Sport
6 March, 2026
Pelicans do it again
BOOKAAR made it back to back South West Cricket Association women’s premierships with a 47 run win in Wednesday night’s grand final over Cobden Gold.
Cobden Gold won the toss and sent the Pelicans into bat at the Ecklin Recreation Reserve.
Led by scores of 30 retired to captain Audrey Ringe and Kayla Hooper, and 29 not out to Tracey Baker, Bookaar posted 4/141 from its 20 overs.
“Everyone contributed with the bat, they did bowl really well, we just put away the bad ball and made the most of it,” Ringe said.
Hooper’s 30 retired came from just 17 balls and included five boundaries.
“She scored pretty quickly, she smashed it around, fours everywhere on both the offside and leg side.
“It was great to watch, and off 17 balls was a great effort.”
Ringe was thrilled with the score Bookaar posted.
“Obviously putting 141 on the board in a 20 over game is a pretty impressive score, especially in a grand final,” she said.
“We’re always aiming for at least a run a ball 120 batting first, anything higher than that, that’s great.”
With Cobden Gold only having seven players on the night qualified for finals, the Pelicans were confident in their ability to defend.
“We put 140 on and knew they only had seven players listed on PlayHQ.
“They used sub fielders but they only had the seven batters, we knew we’d be able to defend that easily with our bowling attack.”
Bookaar could only take three wickets but kept Cobden Gold to 3/94 from its 20 overs.
“We knew they needed over a run a ball; Ingrid Bellman is a good solid batter, she doesn’t give much opportunity for wickets, same with Kelsey Fratantaro.
“We just wanted to dot them up and make them work for their runs which all of our bowlers did well.”
Young bowler Taylor Cameron impressed Ringe, taking 1/7 from three overs including the big wicket of Bellman.
“There was a couple of games, must’ve been two weeks or three weeks ago, where we needed her to play the next few women’s games to qualify and she gave basketball a miss to come and do that.
“She has ended up loving it and it’s great to see her take wickets, she’s always one to go to, she always comes away with the goods, getting big wickets, so it’s really great.”
The team had a low-key celebration on Wednesday night.
“With our under 17s playing in the Colac grand final on Sunday, hopefully we can get a bus trip happening for those who can’t celebrate too much tonight.”
For the second season in a row Bookaar’s women have gone through undefeated to claim the title as premiers and champions.
“It’s always good to get into the grand final and have the opportunity to go back to back, and to go through undefeated as well is a great feeling.”
Read More: local