Toowoomba coach Anthony Clark to lead QLD Country at titles

Meet the Toowoomba coach tasked with leading a star-studded Queensland Country side in the upcoming Australian Country Cricket Championships.

Toowoomba’s Anthony Clark has his eyes set on glory as he prepares to lead the Queensland Country women’s cricket team at the country championships.

This is Clark’s third year at the helm and with Queensland boasting one of its strongest line-ups in recent years he is determined to bring home the trophy.

“Recruitment has focused on country girls that are on the fringe of making state selections and we have a few girls on the team who have been on the fringe for some time,” he said.

“It is just a really great team and I am really confident that the side we have picked this year is going to be super competitive.

“It is probably the most confident I have been going into the carnival that we will come away with the championship and we are highly motivated to bring that home.”

With an abundance of talent across the squad – including Darling Downs stars Emma Jackson, Felicity Koch and Jaimie-Lee Strang – Clark is excited about the championships.

Queensland Country women's cricket coach Anthony Clark.

“Ruby Strange is from Gladstone and she is killing it in the premier grade competition and captains the Western Districts team in Brisbane,” he said.

“Ryleigh Wotherspoon is also from Wests and she got drafted to the Melbourne AFLW team, so I think this might be her last bit of cricket that she plays for a while.

“I think she will want to go out with a bit of a bang hopefully and Emma Jackson is a left-handed opener who is a dynamic big hitter.”

Clark is also eager to see how young guns Koch and Tarah Staines perform.

“This is Felicity Koch’s first time in the team and it is going to be a good experience for her and with her coming off playing in the under-19 nationals, it will help us as well, so we will be drawing on her experience from that carnival,” Clark said.

“Tarah Staines plays for Sunshine Coast and is a spinner and top-order bat who can hit a big ball.

“She has softball background and has an absolute rocket arm so she will do really well for us.”

Clark has been involved with various forms of coaching in cricket for more than 15 years and has recently returned from spending a week with the Queensland Fire WNCL side, which was one of his highlights as a coach.

“It was offered to me by Queensland Cricket, they put out the offer to try and link the Queensland Country and the Queensland Fire teams,” he said.

“You can go on these courses that Queensland Cricket runs but the experience that I gained in those couple of days away with the Fire was just sensational.

“It was a money can’t buy experience.

“There were girls in that Fire side that were girls that I coached in the Toowoomba Girls Cricket Hub when it first started.

“It was a bit surreal to see them at their very start when they first started cricket, to seeing them now at the elite level, it was a really good feeling.”

Clark is eager to continue coaching at a high-level and would love to devote as much time to his “coaching addiction” as possible.

“My journey has been from grassroots and my plan is to go as far as I can with it and hopefully go internationally as I want to coach in either Ireland or England in 2025,” he said.

“I just love coaching, I could do it full-time but unfortunately the pay is not that great.”