Ashton was at Traeger Park, Alice Springs’ premier sporting ground, in late 2017 as the first game of a local female T20 series was being played.

With a little help from her friends and a sponsorship boost from a well known fast-food chain, Ashton was able to spawn the KFC Summer League Series.

The three-game second season finished in January with the third to start in September.

“I didn’t play in that very first game,” Ashton says.

“I sat on the sideline and cooked a barbie but the girls were having fun and loved it because they got to play on Traeger Park under lights.

“But it wasn’t just all me, I had a lot of people help me in getting it there.”

Among those people were Central Australia regional cricket officer Matt Henderson, Christine Ponter, Tanya Warren, Stephanie Schmidt, Sandy Warner and former regional cricket manager Alister Stevic.

“I had all these people jump on board and say. ‘let’s give this a go,” she says.

“Those guys were behind me, they were the driving force. People like that is what make this worth doing.”

But the 41-year-old Ashton, who has only been Alice Springs Women’s Cricket president for two years since replacing Renee Boardman, concedes she was not even sure Alice Springs would embrace a T20 series for females.

“The first year I did this KFC thing I was like, ‘this is going to be a one off. I don’t know if this is going to work. It could fail and I could fall flat on my face or we can just see what happens’,” she says.

“I was fortunate the girls got behind it and they love it, so why not keep on doing it?”

And she came up with the idea while sitting at home.

“We needed something different and I came up with this idea to introduce a different format of women’s cricket to Alice Springs,” she said.

“Christine and I sat down with Alister, who was still our NT representative, who liked the idea and helped write up a proposal.”

The next step was to meet up with Alice Springs KFC manager Sam Edelman.

“We gave Sam the proposal, said this is what we want to do and he goes, ‘Yep, I’m all for it’ and he became our major sponsor,” she says.

Ashton said the icing on the cake was Henderson securing Traeger Park for the games.

“When we went to go and play it, that’s when Matt Henderson stepped into his role and he jumped on board with us,” she said.

“I love Hendo ... he’s cricket Alice Springs – he’s there to help everybody.

“He helped us organise it. He pushed for it so we could get Traeger Park so it was, you could say, a mini Big Bash League game for the women on a Thursday night.”

But Henderson says he is only a bit player in the big scheme of things.

“Amber and the women’s committee did all of the work to get this going and they should be commended for a fantastic idea that has grown the women’s game immensely in Alice Springs,” Henderson says.

“The women now know that they have more options when playing cricket in town and it provides great opportunities for those playing in higher honours, but at the same time gives the ladies starting out the experience in playing T20 cricket.

“Amber’s vision for women’s cricket in Alice Springs and the NT is endless and we are lucky to have her.”

Ashton’s concept involves players from four rival Alice Springs clubs joining forces to create two teams of equal skill and ability.

“When we combine the four clubs ... they all have to learn to play together,” Ashton says.

The three T20 games are part of the women’s regular Super 8s (8-aside) competition.

“We do T20 because we have girls from our local cricket who do or want to represent Alice Springs in the country champions and the National Indigenous Cricket Championships,” she says.

“It’s the format that is played at those championships, so this gives them more opportunities.”

Ashton says the blend of players, ranging in age from 12 to 60, works surprisingly well in the KFC Summer League Series.

“When we have a junior player come out, the women know to slow down their bowling and take it easy,” she said.

“But you get those junior girls bowling at you, they don’t slow down and some of them are pretty quick.

“The aim is still to win but we don’t want to scare the girls off.

“We’d rather slow down our bowling because it’s about participation, getting them involved, and wanting to come back every week.

“We are getting older, you need the younger ones to step in and take it on.”

She has even received interest from children younger than 12.

“This year we had a couple of young kids go, ‘can we just come in for a couple of overs and see what it’s like?’ ‘No worries’.

“They were about seven or eight years old ... they can come in and play a game for a couple of overs and if they think they like it and want to go with it then why not?

“I’m not going to say no to anybody that wants to have a hit.”

And an immediate sign of the impact the game has had on women in Alice Springs was reflected in a trip to Thailand, also in 2017.

Amber helped raise funds to enable Centralian female players to attend a 10-day invitational cricket match in Chang-Mai where the team went on to win and were invited to run cricket coaching clinics with local Thai women.

And while Centralian Tabatha Saville is making her name with the Adelaide Strikers in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), there was no such T20 competition for women when she lived in the Red Centre.

But Ashton believes there are a number of players in her competition that could be future WBBL stars, such as Federal young guns Elizabeth Johnson and Tiara Doolan.

“Elizabeth wants to play for Australia and that’s her ambition. And she has potential,” Ashton says.

“That’s the reason for a T20, so players like her can show their talent.

“And Tiara is a young indigenous girl who plays for CCCC (Complete Constructions NT Cricket Club) and, oh my God, you should go out and watch her bat and bowl.

“She has represented Alice Springs in the NICC (National Indigenous Cricket Championships) and she’s a player for the future.

“This is about giving them the opportunity.

“What would be so good is if one day, one of these girls made it to a team like the Adelaide Strikers in the WBBL and can say ‘I started my cricket in Alice Springs’.”

While Ashton’s passion outweighs her own playing experience, her drive for promoting cricket to women in Central Australia remains unquenchable.

Ashton grew up in Cloncurry, Queensland and only played cricket as part of physical education at school. She moved to Alice Springs in 2000 and was bitten hard by the cricket bug only six years ago while playing for the softball team Storms.

“The softball season had ended and the girls were saying, ‘we start cricket season now’ and I was like ‘Cricket? No worries, I will come down and give it a go’.”

She went on to play for Probuild Rovers and then moved over to Wests this year.

“I went down and played my first game with Rovers several years ago and the atmosphere was great ... I was hooked,” she said.

While the tournament is still in its infancy, Ashton is already looking to the future.

“In five years time I would like to see Alice Springs women’s cricket doing solely a T20 competition,” she says.

“One day (I’d like to have) an Alice Springs T20 team go up against Darwin or have a team go up and play Tennant Creek. But that’s something to look forward to in the future.”

For now she is content to take baby steps, such as expanding the Alice Springs T20 competition from three games to five.

“We want to take baby steps and grow it slowly,” she says. “If we go full steam ahead it could probably fall to the wayside because we have pushed it too hard, too fast.”