Mel’s cricket thrill

DAVID HALL

dhall@kiamaindependent.com.au

Kiama’s rising women’s cricket star Melissa Harrison has received the thrill of her life after winning the prestigious Alan McGilvray Memorial Scholarship from Cricket Australia.

News of the $3,000 scholarship stunned the unassuming 19 year-old, coming as a compete surprise.

“I couldn’t believe it when I received the letter last week and to be even mentioned in the same sentence as someone like Alan McGilvray is unbelievable,” Harrison said.

She will receive her scholarship at a dinner in Sydney prior to the Australia v West Indies one-day game in February.

The year has been one of constant highs for the 19 year-old wicket-keeper/batsman, who plays club cricket with the Campbelltown first grade side.

The season started on the October long weekend when Harrison captained the South Coast under 19s at the Country Championships, and despite having a fairly young side they managed to do pretty well and finished sixth overall.

“I got a couple of good scores during the championships and scored innings of 50 not out and 70 not out in two of the games and averaged around 60 and even threw off the ’keeping gloves and got a couple of wickets,” Harrison said.

Her good form there led to her being selected in the Country Under 19s against City, scoring 38 in the opening position in the second game at the new Blacktown Stadium which she described as ‘awesome’ and was then selected in the NSW Under 19s for the national championships.

“I missed out last year when Elissa Healey (niece of former Australian wicket-keeper Ian Healey) came back to the side and was actually a bit surprised to be picked,” Harrison said.

Playing in the Cricket Australia Cup, mostly against second XI teams, she again had an outstanding tournament and averaged a creditable 54 opening the batting, including a match-winning 78 not out against the Tasmanian second XI in a 40/40 game.

“I was then invited to play in the country side to play against Tasmania in Albury as a lead-up game before the Australian Masters XI played NSW Country in front of a crowd of 3,000,” Harrison said.

“It was an amazing experience, although the temperature reached around 55 degrees on the ground, we won the game and I scored 30 off 25 balls and was awarded Player of the Match, receiving a bat from former Australian player Darren Lehmann,” she said.

While she was in Albury she received a phone call from someone from NSW Cricket asking a lot of questions about her career, which she thought was a bit strange but didn’t really think much more about it.

She then received news of the McGilvray Scholarship, topping off a very special few months that has definitely earmarked her as a player to watch in the sport.

In the meantime she will concentrate on her University studies where she is doing her Bachelor in Policing and playing good cricket for Campbelltown.

“All I wanted to do when I was young was play cricket and be a policeman – so you could say I am really living my dream,” Harrison said.