Gold 292 & 197-7 dec beat Green 234 & 107 by 148 runs
NSW batter Anika Learoyd made the three-day Green v Gold match her own, finishing on 210 runs without once giving up her wicket and steering Gold to a 148-run victory at Drummoyne Oval. The 22-year-old’s 142 not out in the first innings and 68 in the second provided the backbone of both Gold totals, while fellow New South Welshwoman Frankie Nicklin chipped in with eight wickets to wrap things up late on the final afternoon.
“That was the start she needed,” one coach murmured from the boundary rope, head shaking in quiet approval, as Learoyd strolled off unbeaten for the second time in two days. No-one bothered disagreeing.
Gold, sent in on the opening morning, were wobbling at 112-6 when Learoyd and 19-year-old Lucy Finn (59) added 145 for the seventh wicket. The partnership hauled their side to 292, a figure that looked miles away when the top order folded to the swinging new ball. Green’s response never quite settled. Nicklin, an off-spinner who likes to fire the ball in a touch quicker, took 4-18 to secure a 58-run first-innings lead. Green would have been in deeper strife had Hayley Silver-Holmes (53) and Sophie Day (28) not pieced together a lively 64 for the last wicket.
Nicklin again: “It was coming out nicely, so I just kept the stumps in play and hoped for a mistake. Sometimes that plan actually works.”
Gold’s second turn with the bat appeared to undo the earlier good work: 53-5 became 128-7 before Learoyd and Hasrat Gill (38*) put on an unbroken 69. The declaration at 197-7 left Green a target of 256 from 60 overs – challenging but not impossible on a placid last-day surface.
Any realistic chase evaporated once Nicklin removed Emma de Broughe, Charli Knott and Claire Moore in her opening spell. Lilly Mills, another off-spinner albeit with a loopier trajectory, polished off the middle order with 3-16. Green were all out for 107 midway through the final session.
Away from the headline figures, the match also marked fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck’s first appearance since October 2024. The right-armer sent down 12 overs across the two innings and nabbed a wicket in her second over – a small yet welcome step after a long rehab and the recent loss of her central contract.
National selector Shawn Flegler, speaking earlier in the week, offered measured support: “We’ve had some really good chats with her over the last couple of years, but even just as recently as [Tuesday] night, just making sure that she’s still got the full support of us. Once she’s back playing a lot more – so obviously the three-day game was the start of it – but she was looking to try and get some off-season games as well overseas, if she could, and then hopefully she gets back into a full season of cricket. But when she’s back playing, she’s going to be available for selection, no doubt.”
So, Gold got the result and the bragging rights, Learoyd earned a timely nudge to national selectors, and Vlaeminck ticked the first of many fitness boxes. A tidy three days’ work in early April, all told.
