Blog 3 - A Smashing Good Story

We gathered as a squad down in Canberra for an ‘Amazing Race’ seeing the sights from the seats of our pushbikes. It was a very competitive event with some fantastic outfits fitting into the ‘Retro Gym Wear’, in particular I must make special mention to the best dressed winners of Moi Moi (Sally Moylan) and her Borat mankini suit, McRae (Bec McRae) with her brightness, GI (Coach Greg Irvine) for showing off his fantastic new fluro pink hair style and Wally (Hannah Wallet) for her creativeness. Everyone got some very strange looks from the public whilst we were getting around the city and we all had a tremendous amount of fun completing all tasks. The eventual winners were the team of GI, Moi, Kateo (Kate Owen) and Batesy (Sam Bates).

Next up a squad of 12 including Pickeroo (Vanessa Picker) and Batesy (Sam Bates) gathered in Albury for a T20 and One Day practice match against Victoria to blow out a few cobwebs and put our skills to the test against one of the leading teams in the competition we will be facing this summer. The Sydney girl’s flew down to Albury and after a slight scare with someone thinking they had lost their ticket just when we were about to board (surprisingly it was not Hungry!), it was quickly found and we all arrived safely. With our usual captain Britty (Kris Britt) not playing these games it was left up to Wrighty (Laura Wright) and Smasha (Asha Smith) to take charge.

First up we played a 50 over match and before the match had even started Smasha didn’t get off to the best of starts finding her spikes had been left back at the hotel. No names will be mentioned as to who was at fault. Wrighty got us off to a great start by winning the toss and electing to bat!! The Victorian opening bowlers bowled well early on but Smasha was able to get some runs away and put the pressure on the Vic’s (Yes, I talk myself up!) . Wrighty didn’t get much strike and was dismissed for 8 with Smasha quickly following for 32 off not many balls. Char (Charlotte Anneveld) took it upon herself to get the run rate going and balls were flying all over the park. Along with Dr Wombiford (Sara Hungerford) they built a strong partnership before Char was eventually dismissed for 66. Some runs towards the end from Lynz (Lynsey Askew) and Cannon (Rhiannon Dick) saw us end on 206.

Harry (Aimee Harris) bowled a gem of a first over dismissing one of the Victorian’s key batters but soon after Jess Cameron and Meg Lanning took to our bowling attack and had us on the back foot. A few wickets dismissing two of their key batters and we were right back in with a chance of dismissing the Victorians. The spinning trio of Cannon, Moi Moi and Batesy bowled great lines and we were becoming very difficult to get away. The runs dried up and the wickets started flowing. In the end we didn’t have enough runs on the board, a few silly mistakes and the Vic’s passed our total with 2 wickets remaining. It was a great first out hit and gave each of us plenty of areas to improve on before the season begins.

The next day we played a T20 with Smasha (talking in the third person) won the toss and deciding to bat. We never really got going with our innings and were all out for 70 odd. Wrighty batted very well adding a vital 27. We were disappointed with our batting although we hadn’t given up hope as we knew a few early wickets would put the pressure on the Vic’s middle and lower order.  Getting off to a flyer we were never really in with a chance. Sam Bates came on and bowled well again after an amazing run out by Cannon caused her to leave the field with a suspected broken hand, but it was all too little too late.

To finish off the day we played a 5 over match to get in some practice in case we have some bad weather and encounter one of these dreaded situations. Victoria batted first and whacked a very impressive 50. Our turn to bat and we gave it a good crack and fell just 7 runs short. A good weekend had by all and we certainly learnt a lot and have many things to work on.

A few weeks later we gathered as a squad for the next round of fitness testing. All players performed really well making big improvements which was great to see and now we are all ready to hit the ground running and for the cricket to start and surprise, surprise the weather is not looking too flash for our first round of games this weekend!!!

Until next time, Smasha

Blog 2 - Smasha's Surprise

A nice wintery Canberra morning greeted us all for our first session as a whole squad for the season - fitness testing! I don't think some of the girls were quite aware of the conditions with Sal wearing shorts, Bec McRae sporting a singlet whilst others were there with 5 layers on and still cold!! The one person who was most certainly ready for the tests was Lynz who you could have easily mistaken for someone lining up for the city2surf with her marathon outfit on show. All the girl's put in a great effort and the benchmark has now been set for the season.

The squad has been training hard both up in Sydney and down in Canberra coming together as a whole squad every fortnight. Dr Wombiford (Sara Hungerford) made her first appearance last week and was in fine form once again. Looking at the nets she comes out with "Are these net fool proof?" Clearly there was an end open for the bowlers so we expect to report back with at least one comment from her each training session.

New coach, GI (Greg Irvine) has the girl's working hard on batting skills trying to improve everyone's game and hopefully making us all become better players and trying to implement more power into everyone's games. This weekend we all come together as a group once again up in Sydney and no doubt there will be plenty of banter flying around whilst we preparing for what we hope to be a big season ahead for us. It is just over a month until our first hit out in a practice match and we are all preparing ourselves to the challenge ahead.

Reporting for the Mets,

Smasha 

Blog 1

After a nice long break for the Mets we are all now starting to think about what is ahead of us for season 2011/12 with the first step being pre-season in a few weeks time and fitness testing! During the break many of the girls have jetted away for holidays all over the world (escaping the cold) whilst others have been spending time getting their bodies repaired, spending many hours at the physio and acquiring new accessories. 

In May we celebrated our wonderful season at the High Performance Awards held at Eastlake Football Club with all the girl's getting dressed up in their frocks and having a great evening. Congratulations to the award winners on the night: Kris Britt winning the Bronwyn Calver medal and Batting Award, Charlotte Anneveld winning the Bowling Award and Sally Moylan picking up the Indigenous Player of the Year. We mustn't forget recognising Lynsey Askews' Hat-Trick against South Australia. Where is that ball now Lynsey? 

Girls have been back in the nets for a few weeks now not giving the coaches much of a break but from all reports they have been brave even heading out in the weather in Canberra. I'm sure Char would be more than happy to tell everyone about how much she is enjoying winter down there. (I do hear she has taken up skiing as her chosen winter sport!) There haven't been any rumours of Dr Wombiford (Sara Hungerford) giving her bat a workout on the fire alarms just yet but watch this space as you never know!!

The 2011/12 squad for the Mets will no doubt have a few fresh faces in it with the retirement of Leonie Coleman, and Georgia Elwiss deciding it was time to go to University back home in England. Both these players will be greatly missed this season and we wish them all the best. It will also allow some of the girls to step up and take a more senior role in the team and lead the girls to what we hope will be another great season for the Meteors.

Next stop for us all is Pre-Season!!

Until next time,

Smasha