Geelong Recruit Aanliya Cheeran Makes Her Debut With Victoria Against Queensland Fire
October 21, 2023

Geelong Recruit Aanliya Cheeran Makes Her Debut With Victoria Against Queensland Fire

Geelong are well on their way to a 2-0 start to the season; the women of Geelong's first grade team have taken home their maiden victory; and a Victorian representative has taken the field for the first time. Find out the most recent information with our cat wrap

Cats enjoy dream start to the first grade season

After a first-grade rookie contributed two wickets to his team's victory over Frankston Peninsula on Saturday, Geelong is in excellent position to improve its record to 2-0 for the new season.

After restricting the home team to 179 runs off 74 overs at Jubilee Park during Round 2 of the Victorian Premier cricket competition, the Cats are well on their way to claiming their first two-day triumph of the season.

Tom and Lachlan Neate, who was making his debut, both took two wickets, giving them a combined total of four, while spinner Callum Stow finished with two for forty-five.

Brodie Symons played a crucial role in keeping Frankston's innings together until he was run out for 81.

Nevertheless, throughout his 13 frugal overs, Lachlan would castle former Australian Test spinner Jon Holland for two runs.

According to Neate, who is 21 years old and works in recruitment, he did not hesitate to remind his brother Tom that he had released a test player.

"I could see his intent early, he was looking to drag a lot to mid wicket, so I just tried to nullify that with a bit of pace off," Neate said. "I could see his intent early."

To tell you the truth, I was a little nervous about starting my very first round.

The first batsman he dismissed, Ryan Hammel, edged a ball that was caught by the keeper, Ryan Aikman.

"To be honest, I couldn't have gotten a more perfect first wicket. it was a great feeling," he added. "It was a great feeling."

Neate stated that the Cats were "pretty relentless" with their line and length, which allowed them to restrict Frankston to 4/34 early on.

"To keep them to a low total on a pretty decent wicket, we were pumped with that," he added. "That was a pretty cool accomplishment."

"I feel like we've all come together quite nicely,"

Neate expressed his elation at being promoted to the first grade during the training session held the previous Thursday night.

He explained, "I was at the top of my very short mark when Josh Larkin, the skipper, just tapped me on the shoulder and said I'm playing this week." "I'm playing this week," he stated.

"The quality of the subsequent few deliveries was probably not very high, but this was very encouraging news."

Hayden Butterworth (27 not out) and Eammon Vines (17 not out) were at the crease for the Cats when they began their reply on Saturday. The cats were 0/50.

This follows Geelong's victory against the incumbent premier, Melbourne by two wickets at Kardinia Park in the first round of the competition.

In the second grade match, Frankston Peninsula scored 5/255 off of 86 overs, while Zane Attard (2/62) was the only bowler who took multiple wickets.

Olegas Rodgers (62) and Josh Mastin (54), who played together in the late order, brought the Cats back into contention in the third division, where they finished with a score of 157.

Max Hutchinson's score of 92 was the cornerstone of Geelong's 9/243 total in the fourth division. Nicholas Donazzon (42) and Oliver Haberfield (30) provided additional support for Geelong's total.

Aanliya Cheeran makes her Victorian debut

At Trinity College in Colac, it's probably reasonable to say that they scored a first down on that play.

After obtaining the call up to make her state debut against Queensland Fire in the Women's National Cricket League last Thursday at Peter Burge Oval, emerging young Geelong cricketer Aanliya Cheeran, 18, needed to acquire permission to take a week off after getting the call up to play for Geelong against Queensland Fire.

After scoring five runs while batting at number 11, Cheeran went on to take one wicket out of twenty-five in 5.4 overs. With her fifth ball, she bowled opener Georgia Redmayne around her legs for 37.

It happened after Cheeran, who is of Indian heritage, made the transition from playing in Colac's local league to playing for Geelong Cricket Club during the off-season.

Cheeran stated that she was at her house when she received a phone call from Cricket Victoria inviting her to become a member of the team traveling to the north.

"I had to check with my parents, and I had to get a green card from school," Cheeran added. "I apologize for the inconvenience."

After that, I was gone.

"I was filled with a variety of feelings: happiness, obvious excitement, nervousness, fear, and a significant amount of adrenaline."

Cheeran, who had trained and played in practice matches with the state Second XI, was one of the many familiar faces inside the Victorian team. However, there were plenty of other familiar faces among the Victorian squad.

"They're always so caring and kind," she remarked of them.

Cheeran stated that her first state wicket in her very first delivery was kind of a hazy memory for her.

"Everything took place in such a flash," she explained.

"It was a sigh of relief because I had been worried about how things would turn out.

When you took your maiden wicket for Victoria, it was the most satisfying feeling in the world.

"Meg Lanning presenting me with the cap was an extremely meaningful gesture, and it is something that I will always hold dear."

Cheeran is also having a great time playing for Geelong CC. She has taken five wickets so far, with her best statistics coming in Round 2 against Essendon Maribyrnong Park when she had 3/24, and she has also chipped in with some nice runs.

She remarked that "all the girls are really nice and encouraging, and I think that as a team we're doing really well." "I think we're doing really well as a team," she added.

Cheeran joined City United when she was around 13 years old, following in the footsteps of her cricket-obsessed father Benoy and her cricket-playing brother Aanlin.

She admitted that when she was little, she did not have a strong affinity for the sport of cricket.

Both my father and my brother weighed in at a healthy nuffin'.

Geelong’s women bank two top flight victories in a day

A rearranged batting order was the key to success for Geelong on Sunday afternoon, which contributed to the team's two significant victories in the first grade of the Women's Premier competition.

Geelong had a successful hit out at Kardinia Park, where they played two games. In the first game, they defeated Ringwood by 13 runs, and then in the second game, they were ahead of Plenty Valley until the rain started to fall.

Earlier in the Round 3 match, Ringwood won the toss and opted to play under overcast skies. Erin Carroll dismissed openers Bianca Deckker and Renee Moffitt for a total of one run between them. Deckker was out for a golden duck, while Moffitt was out for one run.

The ship was steadied by stand-in captain Stephanie Townsend and Kira Grace, who batted for 19 balls before Grace was bowled for 11.

Then Townsend started to really put her foot down, and she led Geelong with a 49-run performance off 45 balls, including six boundaries.

Jess Field's 2-12 off of 4 overs was a good start for the Cats' bowling attack.

Una Raymond-Hoey scored 54 off of 48 balls, and Teresa Graves contributed 21 useful runs, but Ringwood still lost by 13 runs thanks to Townsend's 2-16.

In Round 4, the Cats defended effectively against Plenty Valley, as new state rookie Aanliya Cheeran bowled out veteran opener Nikita Chaudhary for just 10 runs.

With the help of Field (3-18) and Grace Jones (2-24), Plenty Valley's scoring was slowed to 7-98 in 20 overs.

Jones executed a brilliant run out to secure Geelong's seventh and final wicket in the final over.

The Cats tried a new batting order with Field batting first and Moffitt second, and it was a huge success.

At 76 without loss after 14 overs, thanks to some excellent strike rotation from Moffitt (40 off 37 balls) and Field (26 off 43), the heavens opened.

After Plenty Valley got to 2-57 in their innings, the umpires decided to give the game to Geelong.

Field mentioned during the post-match interview that the second game was a significant personal challenge for him because he had never opened in a Twenty20 competition before.

According to Field, "in both games, I knew the scoring areas of the batters because I did my preparation before the game, and I just aimed to get dot balls," in reference to her bowling performance.

"Overall, I couldn't be happier to get two victories in a single day."

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