By Jonty Ralphsmith
Parkfield ladies’ captain Brodie Whitmore says a freer mindset is allowing her personal form to flourish this season.
Her strong form with bat and ball has powered Parkfield to a 3-0 start to the women’s shield two season to go with two washouts
The inclusion of Austrian international Harjivan Bhullar has allowed Whitmore to drop down to number three in the batting order and provide stability after she opened last season.
Last weekend was Whitmore’s finest performance, her unbeaten 48 seeing Parkfield to victory over Clifton Hills, after her 3/19 helped restrict them to just 78 off their 20 overs.
It followed on from a 32 against Frankston and 17 against Essendon, both also unbeaten, while she also claimed 1/26 from her five overs across those performances.
The skipper tends to bowl herself at different times within games in one-over spells to tighten the screws and add variation between others bowlers’ longer spells.
“Usually I do set myself goals but this season popped up on me pretty quickly but I feel like that’s why I am going well this season because I didn’t put as much expectation on myself,” Whitmore said.
“Our girls are a brilliant bowling and fielding team but getting stability in the batting lineup has been important.
The 39-year-old has played at Vic Premier Cricket level and represented Australia’s masters team at the 2019 indoor cricket world cup and has imparted that experience onto the Bandits’ squad since arriving ahead of last season.
Upon arrival ahead of last season, Whitmore has seen the talent in the team and provided a senior head, scoring 311 runs at an average of 46 last season.
Whitmore sees her role in the team as anchoring innings and allowing her teammates to gain confidence by batting around her.
“When the new coach said I want you to come in at three, I was kind of disappointed because I do like opening but after round one, I realized three works really well with the team and that’s what I appreciate with ‘Fergo’, he was able to see how the batting order would work.
“These girls are phenomenal players but they just doubt it so batting at three, I just stay there as long as possible and rotate the strike and get get the girls confidence because we don’t have the strongest batting lineup and we need as many as possible out in the middle batting with me.
“The biggest thing is rotating the strike. A lot of them watch the BBL now and think they’ve got to hit big but it’s all about timing, if they can just get bat on ball, hit the gaps, and play the ball a bit later.
“From that, they’ll build confidence.”
There is added impetus for Whitmore to keep herself in good form for the over-40s masters tournament in Geelong at the end of November
She grew up around indoor cricket in Alice Springs, with her mum having played the sport, and Brodie having played at state level.
She has also represented Australia’s country side in hockey at a tournament in Malaysia but has never been in a representative cricket side, putting added emphasis on performing well.
“I am looking forward to it because it’s a new experience,” Whitmore said.
“I remember getting to 35 and being able to represent Australia in the masters and then I started looking forward getting to 40 (years old) so I could do the same for outdoor…I didn’t want to be wishing my life away but I’m keen to get good performances on the board.”
Parkfield’s next game is on November 6 against the winless Kingston Heath.
