National Cricket Inclusion Championships wrap up

Two Victorian teams won their respective divisions, with the women’s deaf team and the men’s intellectual disability (ID) team both taking home silverware.

The deaf women’s team won their series over the Combined Deaf All Stars comprised of the best deaf cricketers from around the country.

After the first game of the three-match series was abandoned due to bad weather, a remarkable 4-8 from Stephanie McDonald in game one was the highlight for Victoria as they cruised to victory by eight wickets.

The second match was a much closer affair, with the All Stars bowled out for 84. Victoria showed composure with the bat however to chase the total down inside 18 overs with three wickets to spare.

The Melissa Hale Cup was the prize, made all the more significant by the fact that Melissa played in the winning Victorian side. The trophy named after her in recognition of her outstanding contribution to deaf cricket.

The men’s ID final between Victoria and South Australia was a high-quality affair, with the hosts getting the job done by six wickets.

Three wickets to Patrick Wheeler and two wickets apiece to Daynah Hopkins and Benjamin Smith helped keep South Australia to 8-127 from its 20 overs.

Victoria were never really troubled in reply, with contributions form Jamie Phillips (35), Richard Curtis (31), Gavan Hicks (29) and Brett Mackey (16) getting the job done.

The Victorian men’s deaf and blind teams were hindered by smoke and rain throughout the week, meaning they could only play a fraction of the scheduled games.

The deaf team won their only regular series game which wasn’t abandoned, defeating South Australia by five wickets. New South Wales proved too good in the semi final of the deaf division, winning by 26 runs.

After going down to New South Wales in the opening round, the blind Victorian side defeated Queensland by 21 runs but came up short against South Australia in the semi final stage.

Full results from all matches and divisions are available at www.ncic.cricket.com.au.