VICTORIA Park resident Piepa Cleary has been named as one eight female cricketers in Cricket Australia’s inaugural 2017 Women’s National Performance Squad (NPS).
The squad will spend two weeks at the National Cricket Centre (NCC) in Brisbane under the watchful eye of former Australian representative Leah Poulton, who was appointed Cricket Australia High Performance Coach earlier this year.
The addition of a women’s National Performance Squad is yet another step in the professionalisation of the women’s game and enables Australia’s most talented young cricketers to compete and learn from their peers in the world class facilities at the NCC.
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READ NOWThe squad will also have the opportunity to train alongside and play a series of practice matches against the Australian Women’s team as they prepare for the upcoming Ashes Series.
Cricket Australia high performance coach Leah Poulton said it was exciting to run the women’s NPS for the first time with a group of players who had been touted as future Australian players.
“This program is designed to complement the work being done with the players in their respective states and allow them to experience international playing and training environments as well as being exposed to a variety of conditions,” she said.
2017 Women’s National Performance Squad
Maitlan Brown, ACT Piepa Cleary, WA Ash Gardner, SA Heather Graham, WA Tahlia McGrath, SA Sophie Molineux, VIC Rachel Trenaman, NSW Belinda Vakarewa, NSW
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