GMC Women’s | Shepparton United prepares for historic grand final bout with Echuca

So when describing the history of the Shepparton United women’s cricket program, the word fits as the perfect metaphor.

Starting four years ago, the club has poured blood, sweat and tears into becoming a trailblazer for women’s cricket in the region.

Now, United is on the precipice of the ultimate goal, as it faces Echuca in the Goulburn Murray Cricket A-grade women’s grand final at Kyabram Recreation Reserve.

This presents as Shepparton United’s first grand final appearance and comes after it dominated the home and away season with a 7-1 record.

But as the old saying goes, it all counts for nothing if you cannot get it done on grand final day, which is pressure coach Steve Williams said his side welcomed.

“The feeling among the group at the moment is excitement, we aren’t nervous at all,” Williams said.

“The girls have worked so hard, trained very well all season and just committed to the cause which as a coach has made the season so pleasurable.

“Prior to this year a lot of the girls had only played in the backyard with their brothers, but now they have learned the proper skills of the game and just gotten better and better.

“They have bonded really well together, for the club this has been three years in the making which is why they are so excited to play in a grand final.”

Season 2022-23 signified the beginning of an exciting new era for United’s women’s program.

For the first time in its history the club had enough interested players to field two sides, resulting in an inaugural B-grade team.

While it was not able to join its A-grade counterparts in the grand final, losing in last weekend’s preliminary final to Kyabram, Williams said the new-look program had been a bona fide success.

“We had the option of only going with the one side, but then we would have seven-to-eight girls miss out every week,” he said.

“So we bit the bullet and said we would back ourselves and put a B-grade side in and they made the finals with pretty well eight players every week.

“For both teams to have so much success it shows that the program is well and truly on the right track and the processes we’ve put in place to develop our cricketers is working.”

With one victory separating United from premiership glory, it faces an Echuca side it has become quite familiar with in recent seasons.

In this campaign alone the two sides have faced off on four occasions, with Shepparton United coming away with three victories.

Despite having had the wood over Echuca in the home and away season, Williams knows the grand final will be a completely different beast.

“It is only a Twenty20, so I think it will be something like 100 to 90 because it will be that tight,” he said.

“The team that fields well, takes the catches and takes their chances will win these types of games.

“Everyone has to play their part, if you make a low score you can impact the game somewhere else, whether it is a good catch, a diving run out, it could be the difference between a win and a loss.”

As for how much a premiership win would mean to the club, Williams said it would be monumental given all the obstacles it has had to overcome.

“A win would be massive for the club, we haven’t had clubrooms (because of the floods) to use, so we’ve had to relocate out to Central Park,” he said.

“So to come away with a win on Sunday it would be a massive boost for our club and would mean a lot to a lot of people.”