About Brewer Shield

As a continuation of the women’s cricket pathway on the Northern Beaches, the TravelSIM Manly Warringah Waratahs will be adding a U/17 Brewer Shield team to our official line-up for the 2017/18 season.

There is no doubt that women’s cricket, and women’s sport in general, is one of the fastest growing sporting markets, with participation levels rising by records amounts over the last few seasons.

Based on the Nation Cricket Census from August 2016, women’s participation reached record figures in 2015-16, growing nine per cent to 314,936 players. Undoubtedly that has increased once again this season.

The advent of the WBBL, an amazing successful product no matter which way you dissect it, has meant that there is now a clear pathway for women to get involved in cricket.

Unfortunately this pathway for girls in the Manly Warringah area has previously stopped at U/15 level, with players having to play at other clubs after this age to play grade cricket. However, this has now changed with the formation of a team as an official part of the Manly Warringah Waratahs at the highest level of female junior cricket in Sydney.

For 2017/18 the senior team that will play under the Manly Warringah Waratahs will be an Under 17 Brewer Shield side, which is the female version of the male U/16 AW Green Shield competition. Brewer Shield is played on turf grounds with the same level of prestige as Green Shield.

Our vision is that this pathway will pave the way for women’s grade sides in future seasons.

In a big coup for the club, former 1st grade player, 5th grade skipper and NSW 2nd XI fast bowler Simon Waddington has been appointed as the inaugural MWDCC Women’s Coaching Director, which includes coaching the Brewers Shield for 2017/18. He will report direct into the Waratahs Board and also have a dotted line to our club head coach, Shawn Bradstreet.

This is actually not the first time women’s cricket has been part of our club. There was a women’s side in the Sydney 2nd grade competition in 1982/83 (and were actually joint premiers) and then again in 1983/84 and 1984/85 in 1st grade, before the side disappeared due to a lack of numbers. With the current interest in women’s cricket, this will not be happening again.

Some key upcoming dates:

• August 2017 – Pre-season training will begin on Saturday August 5th 2017 for all squad players from the U13, U15 and those eligible for the U17 Brewer Shield. Training will be from 3.30 to 5.00pm Saturdays.
• September 2017 – U13 and U15 MWJCA representative teams will be selected in early September and posted on the MWJCA website. Pre-season training to continue with the selected players.
• October-November 2017 – U13 and U15 DCA representative competitions are played on Sundays during October and November. Exact dates will be determined in due course and are subject to confirmation of relevant competition dates and formats by NSWDCA and Cricket NSW.
• October 2017 – The Brewer Shield squad will be announced by MWDCC in mid-October. Training will be run in conjunction with U15 MWJCA Margaret Peden team at the MWDCC grade facilities at LM Graham Reserve.
• November 2017 – The Brewer Shield team will be announced in mid-November. The team will be presented their caps by the MWDCC Grade club on the same evening as the capping of the AW Green Shield team, with both sides representing MWDCC in the Cricket NSW Premier Grade competitions.
• December-March 2017 – The Brewer Shield competition begins in early December, running through March (with a Christmas break). The draw will be available on the Cricket NSW Women’s Premier Cricket website.

Any questions, please contact the following representatives:

Simon Waddington – MWDCC Women’s Coaching Director – 0414 393807
Ross Denny – MWDCC Women’s Cricket Manager – 0415 039320
Deanne Hutt – MWJCA Women’s Cricket Representative – 0416 183482
Blake Cousemacker – MWJCA Representative Chairman – 0415 039320