Top performances catch the selectors' eyes

By Jonathan Leask January 28, 2012

Georgia Clarke was nearly blown away by reaching the pinnacle of the Canterbury girl's cricket.

Her exploits for the Ashburton College Girls 1st XI had her selected for the Mid-South Canterbury team that played at the Canterbury under 18 regional tournament in early January.
Clarke, better known as a bowler, scored 42 against Canterbury Country after an unlucky spell with the ball where several dropped catches meant she went wicketless from a solid spell.
GeorgiaTM2

Against Christchurch Metro she did not fare as well with the bat scoring 19, but had more luck with the ball taking 2/15 off six overs.
Despite the side losing both matches Clarke's two performances saw her picked for the Canterbury Secondary Schools Girls team and she went to Wellington.
"It was a bit of a surprise.
"We went up for a week and played two twenty20 and two 50 over matches.
"Unfortunately I had a strained thigh that I had carried through the regional tournament so I was rested from bowling and was just a fielder in the twenty20s.
After being rested, Clarke was thrown the ball in the 50 over match and not only faced the Welling-
ton opponents, but also the well-known wild Wellington wind.
"It was really gusty and I had to bowl into the wind. It was really hard to run in and bowl into that wind.
"I ended up being named the bowler of the day.
"I took 2/17 off six overs."
She had a learnt some valuable lessons about Wellington's wind and bowling into the wind but she was not finished with the lesson.
"It was twice as windy for the second 50-over match.
"I was getting blown away running into bowl and it was so much harder."
Despite the increase in wind intensity she still managed 2/18 off five overs into the gale.
That match signalled the end of the Canterbury representative season until next summer, but Clarke is not finished with rep cricket just yet.
"I have been asked to play for the South Canterbury women's team in four games down in Dunedin."
For now, she is resolved to keeping the skills sharpened in the backyard where there is plenty of competition.
Georgia is the middle of three siblings, having an older brother Sam, a former Ashburton College cricketer and her younger sister Rebecca is also a member of the girls 1st XI, not to mention her father Brent chiming in.

Pictured: Georgia Clarke is a cricketer on the rise.

Photo Tetsuro Mitomo

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