Lightning could strike twice for the all-conquering combined Mercy/St Patrick’s College Mackay senior girls cricket team this summer.
Fresh from their success in the 2021 Queensland Cricket StreetSmarts Secondary Schools Twenty20 State Challenge, the Mercy/St Patrick’s girls are pulling out all stops to bring home back-to-back championship titles.
As reigning trophy holders, the girls will open their 2022 campaign in a third-round fixture early next month with no less than nine members of their State Championship-winning squad back on deck.
Player of the Final and star top order bat Isabella Sammut plus all-rounder Meg Connolly are the only two members of the triumphant 2021 team not returning to the fold.
Mercy/St Patrick’s were crowned State Twenty20 champions after toppling Toowoomba’s Fairholme College in comprehensive style in Brisbane last October.
Talented skipper Meghan McCarthey (St Patrick’s) snared three wickets and Haylee Holdsworth bagged some spectacular catches to restrict Fairholme to 5-103 in the final.
Mercy/St Patrick’s (1-107) coasted to victory with Sammut’s classy knock of 65 not out a feature of the innings.
Having assembled another strong Senior Girls X1 this season comprising ace all-rounders McCarthey and Kiana Dunn, Mikaela Penny, Gabby Ipson, Elisha Holdsworth and Haylee Holdsworth, Eeden Thompson and St Patrick’s duo Harriet Bampton and Mackenzie Allen there is plenty of belief amongst the group of retaining the trophy.
Under the tutelage of Mercy College staff members and Mackay cricket legends Adam Knezevic, Chris Dunn, Angela Beardmore and Patrick Hoare plus the expertise of St Patrick’s duo Eddie Keogh and Doug Beddington the cricket program at both colleges continues to flourish.
By Chris Karas
Meanwhile Mercy College’s Intermediate Girls cricket team opened its 2022 State Twenty20 Challenge campaign with a six-wicket victory over Whitsunday Anglican School at the Vigoro Fields in Mackay.
Promising all-rounder Kiana Dunn (45 not out off 39 balls) and Madeleine Searle (15 not out) posted a second wicket stand of 81 to help Mercy (1-87) eclipse Whitsunday Anglican School’s tally of 7-86.
Matilda Wiggins (2-8 off three overs), Alex Woods (1-10), Dunn (1-20) and Searle (1-22) were the pick of the Mercy bowlers with Jade Gersch (24) top scoring for WAS.
The Mercy College Intermediate team was: Kiana Dunn, Matilda Wiggins, Madeleine Searle, Tahlia Anderson, Holly Wardrop, Alex Woods, Elisha Holdsworth and Poppy Goodman.
There was no joy for the Mercy Intermediate Boys X1 who were knocked out of the tournament by Proserpine State High in sensational circumstances.
Chasing 87 for victory, the Mercy boys squandered their advantage with the bat - collapsing from 3-71 in dramatic fashion by losing an incredible seven wickets for five runs to be rolled for 76.
Mercy/St Patrick’s College all conquering Senior Girls team that captured the 2021 Queensland StreetSmarts Secondary Schools Twenty 20 Cricket State Challenge title. Standing with team officials Adam Knezevic, Chris Dunn and Angela Beardmore. L-R: Meghan McCarthey, Mikaela Penny, Gabby Ipson, Elisha Holdsworth, Harriet Bampton, Kiana Dunn; front Haylee Holdsworth, Mackenzie Allen, Eeden Thoimpson, Isabella Sammut and Meg Connolly
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