Lady Cats charge to victory

Craig Noble said he was immensely proud to see his side create cricketing history.

quietly confident they could get the job done.

They’ve only had the Ruth Preddy Trophy in their hands a matter of days, but Penrith Cricket Club’s first grade women’s team are already talking about going back-to-back.

Last Sunday, in extreme temperatures at Cricket Central Oval, the side put in a red-hot performance to claim their first ever women’s NSW Premier Cricket title.

Rising Australian batter Phoebe Litchfield was the star of the show, putting on a Player of the Final performance, smashing 99 runs in Penrith’s dominant nine wicket, 25-over victory over Northern District.

Speaking with the Weekender, Penrith coach

“I’m very proud and happy for the girls, this has been a long time in the making for them,” he said.

“The last couple of years we’ve been in the semi finals and last year in the Grand Final, which we lost to Sydney, but they say you’ve got to lose one before you win one and we used that experience to drive us as a team.”

With temperatures set to rise above 35 degrees throughout the day, Northern District won the toss and elected to bat. Penrith’s bowling attacking was in scintillating form, dismissing the Rangers for 160 after 50 overs. Katie Wolfe took 3/15 for the Lady Cats.

When both sides hit the sheds for a drink and short break, Noble said his troops were

“We told the girls to do the basic things well and keep the pressure on Northern District from a bowling perspective… to hold them to 160 in a Grand Final was a great result,” he said.

“The message to the girls was to play our game, if the ball is there hit it.”

The partnership between Litchfield and fellow opener Elise Noble was one that will be talked about for years to come, with the pair belting 155 runs between them before 19-year-old Litchfield was caught a run short of her century.

“Phoebe just hits the ball so well, so sweetly and Elise’s job was to play her game and to stay with her – it was great to watch,” Noble said.

“I know Phoebe was disappointed to miss out on that last run but you can’t ignore the 99 she scored before that. We felt for her… but she gave us a lot of breathing space with her scoring. For an opening partnership, you wouldn’t want anything else in a Grand Final.”

Experienced campaigner Samantha Arnold was next in to bat, with Noble and the Penrith skipper slotting over the winning runs in the very next over.

The exciting victory caps off an outstanding season for women’s cricket in Penrith, with the club hopeful of doing it all again next year.

“The girls are already talking about repeating and they are looking forward to the challenge,” Noble revealed.

“We’d like to think that if we can keep most of the team together, it’s something that we can build on.”