Essendon Maribyrnong Park quick Milly Illingworth reflects on promising Victorian Premier Cricket season

The Port Campbell local's stature within Victorian Premier Cricket ranks rose this season, turning heads with her fast bowling for Essendon Maribyrnong Park where it is believed she can nudge the 120kph mark.

Charging into the wicket with the new ball was a customary sight all season for the Emmanuel College student, who finished 15th in the competition for total wickets with 16 and was among the top-ranked fast bowlers of the season, with 22 wickets in total including the under 18 competition.

Some of her hauls included 3-32 against Dandenong, 2-36 against Box Hill and 4-28 against Carlton in the under 18s.

"I came into the season wanting to have a good go and take every opportunity I could," she told The Standard.

"I had a pretty good season, I loved playing with the group and learning from Chloe Rafferty, Makinley Blows, they really helped me a lot this season and the whole group got behind me.

"I tend to spray them around a bit so it was good to have support behind me knowing that if I do bowl a bad ball or a wide I've got support."

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The right-armer - who also contributed 133 runs - said her role as the aggressor with the new ball was something she relished especially with her bouncer which kept batters on their toes.

"Especially against Dandenong they didn't care how many wides I bowled or where I was hit," she said.

"It was more about focusing on taking key wickets and the main aim this season for me was to bowl fast.

"I brought in a bouncer this season, the umpires told me they'd never seen that in women's cricket before so it worked pretty well and got a couple of wickets from it. I'd been working on it all pre-season and it was probably more consistent than my stock ball to be honest."

Although the teenager would rather be busy preparing for a finals series for the fifth-placed Bombers this weekend, she said the club gave it their all all season.

"A lot of people wrote us off at the start of the season, so I guess it was great to show everyone what we've got," she said.

"To end as badly as it did wasn't the best way to end the season but we definitely have high hopes for next season.

"It gave us a good look at all the young players coming through and the skill sets that we've got.

"Although it ended the way it did I felt our bowling attack performed really strong, we bowled a few teams out for not much so it showed the competition what we're all about."

A product of the Heytesbury Rebels, the youngster says she loves it when she gets the chance to pull on the Rebel kit.

"This year was my first year not playing with them, but last Saturday with our season finished I was lucky enough to get a game with them which was awesome," she said.

Although her season has come to a close, the speedster says she is determined to progress in the pathway programs.

"I've got the national championships coming up and I hope I get selected, we'll find out in a week or so," she said.

"We're training twice a week and the nationals are in Adelaide so I'm aiming for that."

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