WBBL stars headline U19 teams for Albury quad series

Rising stars of the Women’s Big Bash League Phoebe Litchfield and Hayley Silver-Holmes are among 34 under 19 girls named to represent ACT/NSW Country and NSW Metropolitan in the Riverina town of Albury during April. 

The Female Under 19 ACT/NSW Country and NSW Metro teams will play a mix of T20 and One-Day fixtures in a quad series involving the Victorian Country and Metro Under 19 women’s teams from April 8 to 12. 

The matches are an important addition to the calendar for the players selected following the cancellation of the Female Under 19 National Championships due to the related impacts of COVID-19.

Litchfield joins Thunder teammates Anika Learoyd and Gabrielle Sutcliffe in a 17-player ACT/NSW Country squad including three reserves.

Sutcliffe, who hails from Corowa in the Riverina, will captain the ACT/NSW Country team.

Sydney Sixers' Silver-Holmes, 17, joins Thunder swing bowler Kate Peterson and ACT Meteors’ allrounder Olivia Porter in the 17-player ACT/NSW Country squad also including three reserves.

Pace bowler Ebony Hoskin, who plays Men’s Grade cricket in her hometown of Howlong in the Riverina, has also been selected for ACT/NSW Country.

The South Australian Female Under 19 teams will travel to Sydney to play a series of games against combined NSW Metropolitan and ACT/NSW Country teams to take place on April 17, 18 and 19.

CNSW Female Talent Manager Steve Jenkin said all of the matches were extremely important given the impact of COVID-19.

“The girls have been training since July. It looked like there wasn’t going to be any cricket, so the ability to play some representative games against a very, very strong state can only be beneficial to our girls,” Jenkin said.

Jenkin said the two squads were very lucky to play on such high-quality grounds, in the height of football season, and in a sporting heartland town like Albury.

“The boys go down there and play regularly, and they rave about the games down there,” Jenkin said.

“We’ve been lucky enough to use some of the cricket grounds because it is in the school holidays.

“There’s not that many grounds available at that time of the year, but the Council and the schools have gone out of their way to assist Victoria and us to get these games on.

“It’s exciting because we have a great history out of that area with the Blackwell sisters (Alex and Kate). A lot of the players who have played for NSW have come out of that area.”

A Female Under 16 NSW Metro and ACT/NSW Country squad have also been selected for a mix of T20 and One-Day matches from 15-16 April at Raby Sports Complex.

Details for live stream and score updates:

Thursday, 8 April (T20)           10:00AM         NSW Metro U19 v Vic Metro U19  click here 

Thursday, 8 April (T20)           10:00AM         ACT/NSW Country U19 v Vic Country U19 click here

Thursday, 8 April (T20)             2:30PM           ACT/NSW Country U19 v NSW Metro click here       

Thursday, 8 April (T20)             2:30PM           Vic Metro U19 v Vic Country U19 click here       

Friday, 9 April (50-over)     10:00AM         NSW Metro U19 v Vic Country U19 click here          

Friday, 9 April (50-over)     10:00AM         ACT/NSW Country U19 v Vic Metro U19 click here   

Saturday, 10 April (T20)    10:00AM         NSW Metro U19 v ACT/NSW Country U19 click here       

Saturday, 10 April (T20)    10:00AM         Vic Metro U19 v Vic Country U19 click here      

Saturday, 10 April (T20)            2:30PM          NSW Metro U19 v Vic Country U19 click here          

Saturday, 10 April (T20)            2:30PM          Vic Metro U19 v ACT/NSW Country U19 click here             

Monday, 12 April (50-over)      10:00AM         NSW Metro U19 v Vic Metro U19 click here

Monday, 12 April (50-over)      10:00AM         ACT/NSW Country U19 v Vic Country U19 click here 

Women’s Under 19 NSW Metropolitan squad

Women’s Under 19 ACT/NSW Country squad

Women’s Under 16 NSW Metropolitan squad

Women’s Under 16 ACT/NSW Country squad