Essendon Maribyrnong Park and Melbourne to meet in Premier Firsts T20 Final

On Saturday Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) and Essendon Maribyrnong Park Cricket Club (EMP) will play for the Women's Premier First T20 flag in the Final at Greenvale Reserve.

EMP currently hold the flag and are well versed when it comes to finals cricket and head into the fixture as favourites while MCC will be playing in their first Final in only their fourth season at this level, though they did finish top of the ladder and have played consistently all season.

Melbourne’s wicketkeeper, Kylie Crowley, has had a good season behind the stumps but will be looking to make a significant contribution as she opens the batting with MCC chasing their first title.

Crowley’s best score this season came in the second round and was in fact against their final opponents when she made 42 in a dramatic tie.

Amy Yates has been reliable batting at three or four this season for MCC, reaching 20 in four out of six innings.

Yates has scored 130 runs at 32.50 this season with her top score coming in the first round in a one-day game against Plenty Valley.

In the bowling department, Melbourne will hope to reap the benefit of having 19-year-old Natalie Plane play after she chose to represent her club in the Final rather than playing for Victoria in the National Indigenous Championships.

Plane has taken 16 wickets at 14.88 this season with her best figures coming in their tied match against EMP as she claimed 4-35.

Her haul included the impressive scalps of skipper Briana Binch and Emma Kearney, both of whom went on to play in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) for Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars respectively.  

A second bowler who has already made her mark on the team is former England cricketer and current captain of Nottinghamshire County Cricket team Sonia Odedra.

In her three fixtures the fast bowler has taken five wickets at the impressive average of 5.20.

Her best figures to date came in Melbourne’s convincing seven wicket victory over Prahran as she opened the bowling and claimed 2-4 in an impressive spell which saw the back of Prahran’s openers; captain Emma Inglis and Annabel Sutherland.

Odedra is also useful with bat in hand and in the last round against Box Hill opened and made a useful 15 which included two fours as MCC secured a 12-run win.

EMP will be looking to retain their T20 title and have a good chance of doing just that with a full strength squad to pick from.

Skipper Briana Binch has had a good season with both bat and ball for EMP averaging 33.60 batting at two or three and has taken nine wickets at 12.11.

Her top score of 58 not out off 46, an innings which included five fours and a six, came in a T20 against Plenty Valley a few weeks before she started her campaign with the Melbourne Renegades.

A second all-rounder at EMP is Emma Kearney who played for Melbourne Stars in the WBBL.

Normally batting in the middle-order, Kearney has scored 193 runs at 32.17 with a high score of 51 which was part of an emphatic 93-run victory over strong rivals Box Hill.

In the same fixture, Kearney picked up her season’s best bowling figures of 2-11 which included the dream scalp of Meg Lanning – the number one batter in the world.

Talented young off break bowler, Molly Strano, is another all-rounder EMP have in their armoury.

When not on WBBL duty with the Renegades, Strano has spent most of the season batting at one or two and is averaging 24.83 with a top score of 74 which was part of a convincing 73-run win over Dandenong.

Her best figures for the club this season are 3-10, a devastating four overs from the spinner saw the top three depart with just 20 runs on the board before they collapsed to 56 all out which sealed a 29-run win for EMP over fellow finalists Melbourne.

Strano was the Renegades’ leading wicket taker with 18 at an average of 16.72 and claimed tournament best figures of 5-15 against the Stars in the televised fixture at the Melbourne Cricket Ground at the beginning of the year.

With the WBBL ruling a number of EMP’s squad out of the majority of the season much of the campaign was left to the remaining members of the successful club.

EMP showed the strength and depth of their squad by making it to the Final as a number of players stepped up throughout the season.

Emily McIntyre is one of these players and has scored 182 runs at 22.75 batting at a range of positions from opening to number seven.

Her main contribution has been with the ball as she has claimed 17 wickets at 13.35, including best figures of 4-26.

It should be an exciting Final as Melbourne look to continue their successful run of form and win their first flag.

While the well-established EMP side will be aiming to bounce back from their final round T20 loss and hope those players who were part of the WBBL can replicate their form fro