General News
2 October, 2020
Heidi Stansfield announced as the Pelicans skipper
BOOKAAR’S women’s captain is hoping create a competitive and fun environment for her team-mates ahead of their inaugural season.
BOOKAAR’S women’s captain is hoping create a competitive and fun environment for her team-mates ahead of their inaugural season.
Peterborough local Heidi Stansfield was last week announced as the Pelicans skipper ahead of their debut season in the Colac and District Cricket Association’s senior women’s competition.
The 18 year-old said she was looking forward to representing Bookaar and was keen to test her skills in a new competition.
“It’s definitely a great opportunity to be Bookaar’s first ever captain let alone to have a leadership role,” Stansfield said.
“It’s really exciting. I thought it was a good opportunity to progress my leaderships skills and to have the chance to play women’s cricket at a local club.
“I’ve only really played women’s cricket at Melbourne and I’d played a couple of games with Warrnambool’s women’s association but that was more a come and try thing.
“It will be good to experience cricket at club level locally.”
Stansfield has played cricket from a young age and comes to the Pelicans with experience across a number of levels.
She started in Milo Cricket, progressed through the junior ranks with Nirranda Cricket Club and more recently represented Melbourne Cricket Club.
Stansfield also toured with the Cricket Without Borders side and is no stranger to a captaincy role, having previously co-captained Nirranda’s junior side in 2017/18.
She plans to use her experiences to create a team-first culture and to progress the game in the local area.
“I’d like to establish a team-orientated culture that is about being competitive but also about having fun with a great support network,” Stansfield said.
“I hope for it to be competitive but I also want to see the girls develop their skills and have fun with their team as well as developing that support network.
“I hope to progress women’s cricket by proving it is a fun sport to play in the area.”
As captain, Stansfield is eager to give her players opportunities with both bat and ball and wants them to take pride in their fielding.
As for expectations, the new leader is not too worried about wins and losses and is instead focussed on building the right culture and promoting the game locally.
“I haven’t really thought too much about it but I’d hope to get a couple of wins up our sleeve,” Stansfield said.
“But really it’s about wanting to progress women’s cricket locally and developing the skills of those girls who haven’t really played cricket before.”
The Colac and District Association season is set to start on November 15.