Anika Learoyd scored 210 runs unbeaten and Frankie Nicklin took eight wickets as Gold registered a commanding victory
New South Wales off-spinner Frankie Nicklin’s eight wickets has fired CA Gold to a thumping red-ball win in their three-day clash with CA Green in Sydney.
Nicklin backed up her first innings 4-18 (from 14.4 overs) with another four wickets in the second innings as the Charli Knott-led Green outfit crumbled for 107 at Bankstown Oval on Friday afternoon.
Breakers teammate Anika Learoyd was the star with bat, with the No.4 scoring a superb unbeaten 142 on day one to put her Gold side on course for their 148-run victory.
She again raised her bat in the second innings with her 68 not out allowing Gold skipper Katie Mack to declare at 7-197 before lunch on the final day and set their opponents 256 in two sessions to win.
But Green never got close as Nicklin struck thrice in the first 16 overs of the run chase, removing Emma de Broughe, Knott and Claire Moore to have their rivals in disarray at 4-36 after Queensland seamer Sianna Ginger got the opening wicket of Rachel Trenaman.
Nicklin’s third wicket of the innings was a beauty as Hasrat Gill snaffled a sharp chance diving forward to her left at bat pad to dismiss Moore for seven.
South Australian Courtney Webb had taken a similar catch off Nicklin in the first innings to remove Milly Illingworth for a duck as Green replied with 234 on day two as Gold took a 58-run lead into the second innings.
Tasmanian Hayley Silver-Holmes (53no and five wickets for the match) put in a strong all-round performance for the Green side, with Knott (49) and Bridget Patterson (40) providing support in the first innings, but none could kick on like Learoyd did on day one.
Speedster Tayla Vlaeminck (1-15 in the first innings) made a positive return from a long-term shoulder injury, bowling six overs in each innings and claiming the wicket of in-form WNCL player of the season Mack caught behind in her second over of the match.
Illingworth (2-30), Knott (3-58), Silver-Holmes (2-31) and Jemma Barsby (2-59) combined for seven bowleds of the 10 wickets in Gold’s first innings, but NSW teenager Lucy Finn (59) joined forces with Learoyd for a 145-run seventh-wicket stand to help put their side in control.
While Ginger returned figures of 3-21 from 12 overs in the first innings, her sensational direct hit to dismiss Eleanor Larosa on the final day was one of the highlights of the match, sealing Green’s fate as they slumped to 6-59 inside the first 22 overs of their run chase.
West Australian spinner Lilly Mills chipped in with three wickets before Nicklin (4-26) returned to finish the job, bowling Vlaeminck for the final wicket of the match as Green lost their last four batter for 19 runs.
Learoyd’s first innings century was her career-best score in top-level cricket, bettering her 131 for NSW against South Australia in 2023, while 21-year-old Nicklin had never taken more than three wickets in an innings in her 14 WNCL appearances and 10 T20 matches for Sydney Sixers.
With Australia’s next Test not until next year’s multi-format tour of South Africa in March-April, which will be followed by the women’s Ashes Test a few months later, players will get more chances to perform against the red ball to push their case for national selection.
“Australia A and the Green v Gold game, from a multi-day game point of view, is enough to get players to prepare for Test cricket,” national selector Shawn Flegler said this week.
“We don’t have a lot of Test cricket. We get 15 to 25 players probably in the mix for Test matches at any one time, so we’re comfortable with that pathway of Australia A in getting players ready to play.”
