By RUSSELL BENNETT
WHEN Jessie Trembath walks out to the pitch for her first cricket game of the 2016/’17 season, opposition batsmen will know not to underestimate her.
They did that in her debut campaign in the Upper Beaconsfield Under 12s and paid the ultimate price.
The 12-year-old from Beaconsfield has just completed a stunning debut season of organised cricket – taking on the boys and beating them at their own game.
Her side won the Under 12 Red premiership over Officer Gold, and she also played in two Under 14 games and a G Grade clash. Yes, in her debut cricket season as a 12-year-old she’s already made her senior debut.
Jessie played eight games in Under 12 Red – bowling 24.2 overs and taking 10/40, becoming the first girl to win the Upper Beaconsfield bowling average. Her best bowling figures were 3/0, while she had an economy rate of just 1.6 and an average of just four … which blew out from 2.4.
She also won both the West Gippsland Cricket Association’s Under 12 Red bowling aggregate and average trophies for her efforts.
The remarkable feats don’t stop there though – far from it. In her second ever game she found herself on a hat-trick, with the third ball only narrowly missing the stumps.
Cricket does run in her family, but Jessie only picked up a cricket ball for the first time 12 months ago.
“I played in the driveway, and I used to do Milo Cricket as well,” she explained, adding that she idolises Elyse Perry and watches every Big Bash Twenty-20 game she can.
The right-arm quick lives in Beaconsfield and is in Year 7 at Berwick Secondary College, but she loves wearing the maroon and white of Upper Beaconsfield – where she’s surrounded by her supportive team mates, and the club’s superb coaches.
Jessie has done some work on her bowling action, with a family friend helping to modify it halfway through the season by bringing her front arm down in the delivery stride – helping with power and balance.
Jessie’s 10-year-old brother Josh is also in her Under 12 Maroons team, and rules stipulate that she could stay there for another two years if she chose to.
But she doesn’t much like the sound of that. She wants to keep improving and continually push herself.
At the start of the season she was taken lightly – underestimated simply because of her gender. It’s not a mistake that many will make again.
