National Champs launched with eye to U19 World Cup

A cavalcade of WBBL talent will be on display at this week's Under 19 Female National Championships in Perth, with selectors set to be keen observers with an eye to January's inaugural U19 Women's World Cup in South Africa.

The Championships will be the second such event in 2022, after Cricket Australia restructured its female underage pathways during the pandemic (moving from Under 15s and 18s, to Under 16s and 19s) to fall in line with the long-awaited arrival of the global event that will bring together the world's best teenage talent, and one which CA views as crucial to the longer-term development of the women's game.

"The idea of getting an Under 19s World Cup together was to drive other countries to start investing in pathway programs, and not just throwing money at the top," said CA's head of women's performance, and national selector, Shawn Flegler.

"We've been pushing really hard for an Under 19s World Cup for a number of years, because to have successful teams over a long period of time, you need to invest in the bottom as well."

The U19 Championships, to be staged across the next seven days, will feature a number of names familiar to fans of the Women's Big Bash: Ella Hayward (Renegades, Vic Metro), Rhys McKenna (Stars, Vic Country), Amy Smith (Hurricanes, Tasmania), Lucy Hamilton (Heat, Queensland), Jade Allen (Sixers, NSW Country) and Paris Bowdler (Renegades, Vic Country) among them.

Underage championships in the past have been a fruitful source for those identifying talent, particularly given the frequency with which outstanding female players reach the elite level in their teens; in recent times, a host of young guns – from Ellyse Perry to Darcie Brown – have established themselves in the national side prior to turning 20.

For that reason, state recruits, scouts and national selectors will all be watching closely for standout performances that could prove the first step in a rapid rise to prominence.

"There's quite a few examples of (notable underage performers) in the time I've been involved," said Flegler. "I've seen (Sophie) Molineux, (Tayla) Vlaeminck, (Annabel) Sutherland, (Phoebe) Litchfield, (Georgia) Wareham, they've all come through the 15s originally.

"We've seen those players come through 15s and then to 18s, (because) there's a bit of a difference from the (male) Premier level, where there's more players, more depth, so the really talented (female) youngsters get exposed more quickly to elite level cricket."

In September, CA convened 25 of the country's best U19 talent for a three-match 'Lanning v Perry' T20 series, which was aimed at pitching World Cup hopefuls against one another while also providing them with further exposure to elite cricket. A dozen of those players held state contracts, while watching on were new U19s head coach Sarah Aley as well as her assistants, Erin Osborne and Dulip Samaraweera.

"We asked for nominations from the state and territories for those squads," Flegler said. "They were put forward to us and then the squads were finalised, so it was pretty open communication with the state and territories around those teams.

"I'd expect a number of those players (form the Lanning v Perry series) will go through to the World Cup. There were some who didn't play for either injury or workload reasons (who will be in contention), and then there'll be some who come out of the woodwork, for sure, because with this age group, there can be a huge difference in development in 6-12 months."

Australia's U19 World Cup squad will be announced next week, at the conclusion of the U19 National Championships.