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Teen queen of State U14 cricket carnival

Posted on February 10, 2012

WHENEVER the bats, balls and stumps came out for a game of backyard or street cricket in Broken Hill, it was a safe bet that young Makinley Blows wasn’t far away.

Makinley Blows.

Growing up in a cricket-mad family, with her brother Keegan and cousins also addicted to the sport, Makinley quickly became ‘just one of the boys’ early in her primary school days, as the only female member of the Joey’s Alma School cricket team.

And nothing changed after Makinley moved to Gol Gol with her family in 2005…in fact, she became even more obsessed, signing up with the Mildura women’s cricket league for Friday night games, and playing alongside the boys for Workers-Gol Gol on a Saturday.

Now, having just turned 14, the Coomealla High School student has made the Victorian girl’s under 15 cricket team in 2011, and has been voted Most Valuable Player at the State under 14 age championships in Melbourne in January. Her team, the Mallee-Murray Heat, finished runner-up.

Makinley’s performances at the championships, on top of her recent domestic competition success with the bat and ball, has brought her a step closer to achieving a near-lifelong dream….playing for Australia.

One of the leaders in the Mallee-Murray Heat Under 14 team, a modest Makinley was justifiably proud of her efforts, and those of the team. Her individual batting performances over six games, making a total of 177 runs without being dismissed, would have been greater but for the ruling that the girls had to retire on 40 runs.

In Game One, Mallee Murray scored 110 without loss to beat North-East Knights 5/66, with Makinley retiring on 40. Bowling medium pace deliveries for three overs, she finished with two maidens, and figures of 0/3.

The team’s next victim was the North-West Wizards, with a comfortable win to Mallee-Murray after scoring 7/119. Makinley hit seven runs not out and finished with three wickets, having just two runs scored off her bowling.

She didn’t take any more wickets, but knocked up more decent scores in other winning games against Outer East Eagles (41 retired), the semi-final against western Spirit (23 not out), the preliminary final against Gippsland Pride (36 not out) before coming up against Western Waves in the Grand Final.

This was the only game Mallee-Murray lost for the championship series, with Makinley again getting into the runs (30 not out), and her bowling figures for the carnival were 19.5 overs, with six maidens, taking 3/36.

Makinley polled maximum votes in every game, for a total of 15, on her way to winning the player of the State championship.

Her latest success comes on top of an outstanding performance in the national Under 15 championships in Sydney in December, when she opened the batting for Victoria against South Australia, getting the team off to a good start by scoring 21. Heavy rain washed out four of the eight games.

It’s been a long road so far for the 14-year-old and her family, having to travel to Melbourne regularly for two-hour practice sessions at the MCG, with at least 12 trips planned for this year, as well as regular training sessions back home in Mildura, games with the girls on a Friday night, and playing in the boy’s comp every weekend.

But Makinley is still as keen as mustard…she’s given up netball to concentrate on cricket, and backed by her family and friends, is firmly focussed on two goals…playing cricket for Australia, and getting a job that is cricket-based.

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