Cricket Australia high performance coach Leah Poulton has been impressed by the standard of play at this week's National Under-18 Female Cricket Championships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Poulton, who oversees the development program for female cricket in Australia, said the quality and depth of talent at the under-18 championships is getting better ervy year.
"I've been at a number of these championships over the past five years and the trend is getting better and better each year which is exciting for the game,'' Poulton on Wednesday.
"We put that down to a number of things. There's more opportunities for girls to get into cricket these days and the more girls that play cricket the better the standard gets.
"(Through the success of the Southern Stars) girls can see the link that cricket can be a viable pastime and career for them.
"The more girls that see cricket on TV or through the media, or hear about cricket through their friends at school...the more time they will invest in cricket and the flow on will improve the standard of the game.
"The more we can get the Southern Stars brand and WBBL brand out there the better it's going to be for grassroots cricket."
Poulton, who played 90 matches for Australia, said the most impressive aspect of this year's carnival in Bendigo has been the spread of talent.
There's been few lopsided matches and the states that have traditionally struggled to compete with the powerful states have improved markedly.
"Depth is one area that's improved over the past few years,'' Poulton said.
"Every side has great depth and the pleasing thing for me is that we are not seeing the same names dominate games each day.
"We're seeing different players from different teams performing well."
Poulton has played a key role in the development of Bendigo’s Tayla Vlaeminck.
Poulton coached Vlaeminck in the Australian under-19 squad and over the winter period in Brisbane at the National Cricket Centre.
“Tayla has been a great story and I’m sure all of Bendigo is very proud of her,’’ Poulton said.
“Unfortunately for Tayla she’s had a bad run with injuries… but you can tell she’ll make it because she has the right sort of mettle.”
“Over the time she’s been injured she’s got stronger and she’s worked on her batting technique.
“I really rate Tayla's batting, which is much to her amusement sometimes.
“She has plenty of ability with the bat and I see her as being a bowling all-rounder in the future.”
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.