Bell Park’s Alisha Aldridge, Newtown & Chilwell’s Taliesin Platt record maiden Geelong Women’s Cricket League centuries

Bell Park’s Alisha Aldridge’s history-making century - one of two scored on the weekend - has put her firmly at the top of the GWCL’s history books. Plus, see who topped the stats this season.

Bell Park's Alisha Aldridge after scoring 101 not out. Picture: Bell Park CC Facebook

History was well and truly made in the Geelong Women’s Cricket League on Sunday, when not one, but two batters smashed the glass ceiling with centuries.

With the league - made up of 53 teams and more than 800 cricketers - now in its sixth season, the removal of a 75-run retirement restriction last year in its top grades has opened the door to chase down that magical triple-figure performance.

And it finally came in the final round of the 2024/25 regular season, when Bell Park’s Alisha Aldridge struck 101 not out in the Dragons’ B-grade’s win at Lara, while almost 15km away, in North Geelong, Newtown & Chilwell’s B-grade captain Taliesin Platt hit a rapid 61-ball 100 before retiring in the minor premier’s nine-wicket win over the Magpies.

SCROLL DOWN FOR WOMEN’S CRICKET STATS

In incredible scenes at Lara Reserve, Aldridge’s 108-ball unbeaten ton came down to the very last ball of the Dragons’ innings, teammate Michelle Gerdtz insisting she run for two and in the process allowing the 44-year-old to put herself atop the history books with the highest-ever score - 101 - in the league’s fledging history.

In one of the more impressive women’s innings you’ll see, the semi-final-bound Dragons posted an indomitable 1-285, Aldridge and fellow opener Lauren Marino (82) combining for a 227-run first wicket stand.

A whirlwind 24 hours on from her feat, Aldridge spoke with Geelong Addy sports reporter Meg Saultry.

Meg Saultry: Congratulations on your achievement … Can you describe the day, the experience, of making your maiden ton?

Alisha Aldridge: It was one of those days at Lara, hot, really windy.

Knowing we’d already got a finals spot, we kind of went into the game just trying to put our best foot forward, just to take some of that momentum forward into that first final. There was absolutely no thought of that milestone ever happening.

The week before I went out on a duck; I’ve literally gone from one extreme to the other.

MS: Throughout the day, as the runs were ticking over, was there a moment you thought the milestone was possible?

AA: Absolutely not. At quite a few grounds you can see what you’re score is, like an electronic board, but Lara didn’t have that. I had no idea, even when I made 50, all the girls, I could hear Molly (Robbins) my captain yelling out.

I thought ‘oh wow, I got to that quickly’.

Loz (Marino), who I open the batting with, we were doing really well with our opening partnership.

It was just a matter of head down, keep going, see the ball, hit the ball, that was my focus.

MS: Did you realise when you were close to 100?

AA: As we were going along, our coach (Matt MacLeod) came out to the square leg umpire, and he said keep going, you’re doing amazing, there is a big chance of getting three-digits but I had no idea what amount of runs I was on. He said ‘do you want to know?’, and I said ‘nup’.

As I was getting closer, the messages were getting stronger from the side.

When Loz went out, Michelle came in and batted with me and said ‘this is the plan, we’re getting you to those three-figures, I’m going to hit singles when I’m on strike”.

It was the very last ball and Michelle said ‘we’re running two, you just have to go with it’.

I just hit it and the two runs were there and I could hear the screams coming from the girls, but I didn’t know if it meant I was on 100 or 101, I had no idea.

MS: You’re now in a few record books, the first women's century at Bell Park, the first century alongside Taliesin Platt in the league, and with the extra run, the highest score ever in the league.

AA: Honestly, I can’t believe I’ve done it, it’s unreal and to be the first for Bell Park Dragons.

Lara made some presentations to a few of their club people and highlighted what I’d done and someone came up to me after the game and said, ‘did you know there was another girl who plays for Newtown, she made a 100 today too’ and I knew straight away that would have been Taliesin because she’s been amazing all season.

I just thought how cool is that, that two players have made a hundred on the same day.

Luckily Michelle made me run that two, because that’s what it came down to.

It’s still kind of sinking in. Everyone around me is making such a big deal about it, my phone has not stopped dinging or ringing.

It’s amazing what I’ve done, and it’s kind of one of those things, it’s an individual accolade but you can’t get to that point without the support of your team and your coaches. It is a really proud moment, but a lot of work that goes in to do that.

MS: This summer has seen some incredible batting performances across the grades. Your teammate Lauren Marino fell just short of a maiden century in January, stranded on 98 not out while Lethbridge’s Chloe Smith was pretty close with a 97 in A-grade.

With just 30 overs at your disposal in A-grade and B-grade, compared to longer formats in the men’s competitions, is it exciting for the league to start to see women close in, and now break through, for that elusive century.

AA: Absolutely it is, and I just hope that younger girls in the juniors, they can see this happening and go ‘yep, I can aim for that’, that’s in my realm of being able to do that.

The opportunity of playing cricket wasn’t there for me growing up and there is so much more opportunity for the kids of today.

MS: Growing up in Ararat, how big was cricket in your life? And how has it been to return to the game with Bell Park?

AA: I grew up playing cricket in the country and once I got to the top of the age group that was kind of it, there wasn’t a lot happening back then to pursue cricket.

I always loved it, I grew up with it, spent my weekends watching dad play cricket.

Heaps of background cricket with my brother and sister, epic test matches with them in the backyard.

I played other sports in between – golf, basketball, netball – I’ve always loved my sport.

This is only our third season at Bell Park, and that opportunity came about because a few partners of the men’s players just said ‘hey, how about putting a women’s team together?’.

Carol Lymer and Mollie Robbins, those girls were kind of the instigators of putting the team together. We’ve kind of just built from there.

Even when Caroline and Molly said let's start this team up, I said ‘sure’ but thought this was never going to take off, not really realising where the competition was at and how much it’s continued to grow in the last couple years.

It’s been great to be part of.

MS: You’ll play in a B-grade semi-final against Queenscliff this Sunday, which coincidentally is on your birthday. The Dragons won their first piece of women’s silverware earlier this season in a T20 play-off against the Coutas. Is it exciting to be in a position to play off for grand final spot and vie for a premiership this season?

AA: Super excited. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, we’re just seeing it as the next game of cricket, we have a great rivalry against Queenscliff and they’re a really great bunch of girls to play against, we’re both just really competitive.

I guess when you play games like that against teams like that it brings out the best cricket from both sides. At the end of the day, that all we’re hoping for. And obviously a win.

Originally published as Bell Park’s Alisha Aldridge, Newtown & Chilwell’s Taliesin Platt record maiden Geelong Women’s Cricket League centuries