From being the only female cricketer in Alice Springs to national glory
Posted
Tabatha Saville has gone from being the only woman in her cricket side to being a star in a national women's competition.
The Adelaide Strikers all-rounder has admitted to having a few nerves when her side played in her hometown of Alice Springs.
Both the Women's and Men's Big Bash League played in the red centre for the first time, with the Strikers taking on the Perth Scorchers.
Saville wasn't required to bat as the Scorchers won the Saturday game with only one ball to spare.
She has come a long way from when she began playing the game in Alice Springs.
"I was always the only girl playing in the boys comp, the coaches always told me you're the best girl I've seen and it didn't really mean much because I didn't watch girls play cricket," she said.
She said playing at home was exciting but nerve-wracking.
"It's pretty exciting. I love playing in front of my home crowd and I love doing it in the blue for the Strikers," she said.
"There's always nerves, I don't think you can ever get over the nerves, especially playing in front of my family, I don't get to do that often."
Growing up in Alice Springs 'very beneficial'
Saville has had a breakout season in the 2017-18 Women's Big Bash League.
She hit a four off the last ball of a game against the Melbourne Stars to lead the Strikers to victory.
"It's probably a little bit surreal considering last year I was running drinks a lot, so I didn't really think I'd be in this position, in the 11, let alone in the batting line up," she said.
The Women's Big Bash League has given Saville an opportunity to play cricket at a professional level.
Despite growing up in remote Australia, Saville said there were definite advantages to playing junior cricket in Alice Springs.
"It exposed me to an elite level of sport really early on in my development, so I'm very grateful for that.
"Alice Springs and the NT isn't heavily populated, so it was easy for me to stand out and get the coaching and resources that I needed to make it to the next level, so it was very beneficial growing up here."
Topics: sport, community-and-society, women, alice-springs-0870, nt
