The crosscode star who has helped inspire Heidelberg’s rise

Heidelberg women’s cricket team has won three premierships since its inception in 2022 and a crosscode star is playing a huge role. We go inside what has made the club so successful.

Heidelberg secured its first women's division 1 premiership.

Tahlia Meier has enjoyed quite the 2024 sporting year.

In July, she was part of North Melbourne’s first VFLW premiership.

On Sunday, Meier became part of Heidelberg Cricket Club history as the women’s team secured its first Northern Metro Cricket Association Division 1 women’s premiership.

Heidelberg secured the title with a six-wicket win against Hurstbridge at Warringal Park to complete a remarkable rise through the competition’s ranks in recent seasons.

The club’s trophy cabinet now includes three premierships across all divisions.

Meier finished as the club’s leading run scorer in the unbeaten campaign with 254 runs at an average of 84.67.

Heidelberg’s female cricket co-ordinator Ash Landers sang the praises of the club’s star for her commitment.

“She came down about halfway through last season, she’s the housemate of one of our other players,” Landers said.

“Her form has been super all year, she’s almost retiring every week. Earlier in the season, she became the first woman to play in one of our senior men’s teams when she played in the Second XI and she’s played a couple more games along the way.

“There’s several women now featuring in our men’s teams which is a real compliment to how the club is being run.

“Tahlia is obviously very talented across both sports and we’re very fortunate to have her at Heidelberg.”

Tahlia Meier after her history making day.

Heidelberg has achieved what some clubs could only dream of in a short space of time.

The women’s team played their first game back in October 2022 and have gone onto win three premierships.

The NMCA competition structure sees a spring and summer season played either side of Christmas.

“One of the key areas for us has been being able to retain players,” Landers said.

“The club has always been super supportive of the women’s team, we’re all about giving everyone a go.

“We’ve built a culture around participation and everyone has continued to improve from year-to-year.

“We have two teams now, our Second XI made the grand final as well but unfortunately they were beaten.”

Heidelberg will now turn its attention to the summer season when play resumes in the new year.

Plus check out all the other talking points from across the Diamond Valley Cricket Association.

IS LAMONT THE COMPETITION’S MOST DEVASTATING BATTER?

Andrew Lamont might just be the most damaging batter across the entire DVCA this season. The Eltham star’s form line this season reads 132, 83, 9, 2, 116 and now a 176 against Lalor Stars on day one. His innings included 27 boundaries while Liam Rushton-McCoach hit an unbeaten 102 off 88 to help his side to a massive 3-388 and elected to bat.

GREEN IS RED HOT

Dennis opening bat Luke Green hit a second consecutive century after blitzing his way to an unbeaten 148 from 229 deliveries against Thomastown on Saturday. It follows his knock of 150 off 215 against Mill Park in the last outing. Dennis posted 6-257 and perhaps the only concern was three run-outs.

BUNDOORA IN THE BOX SEAT

A season best performance with the ball from Shupinder Taggar has Bundoora in the box seat against Research Eltham Collegians. He finished with figures of 4-33 from 24 overs as the Bulls bowled their hosts out for 195 on day one. Harkaran Gujral was in the mood to get the runs quickly smashing an unbeaten 63 runs off 27 deliveries as the visitors reached 0-73 from 10 overs at stumps. Gujral’s best innings of the season was 76 against North Eltham Wanderers.

EPPING EYEING STATEMENT WIN

Fifth-placed Epping will be hoping to pick up its biggest win of the Barclay Shield season on day two, looking on course for a big win over ladder leader Riverside. The visitors rolled the hosts for 139 as Akash Cheema led the way with 4-24 as Todd Hughes snagged three to clean up the tail. The visitors are 1-59 at stumps with Dushantha Ranatunga and Tom Emmins at the crease.

MCKEOWN FIRES AGAIN

Billy McKeown is enjoying some sort of season for Plenty in the Money Shield. He claimed remarkable figures of 7-46 from 29 overs to help put his side in pole position against Montmorency on day one. The Magpies were all out for 105 as Anthony Licovski top scored with 28. Plenty were 0-25 at stumps.

COULD THOMASTOWN UNITED SPRING AN UPSET?

Thomastown United will be hoping to hand Rivergum its first loss of the season if everything goes to plan on day two in their Mash Shield clash. The Kookaburras reached 0-19 at stumps after having the visitors all out for 222 as Arun Balasubramaniam top scored with 66 to continue his strong form after promotion to the First XI. Stefan Mitreski was the pick of the bowlers with 4-42.