Having won the title for the first time in 2025, the WA Aboriginal Women\u2019s team will enter this year\u2019s National Indigenous Cricket Championships in the unfamiliar role of defending champions.<\/p>\n
The side played some outstanding cricket in last year\u2019s tournament, highlighted by their win over Queensland in the final.<\/p>\n
While going in as defending champions could be seen as added pressure, Head Coach Alex Stewart said the side was looking to approach the tournament in a similar manner to last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t do a great deal to our approach internally, but there may be some more expectation externally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to go into the tournament looking to have a good time and win some games of cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite a few of the players in the team are young and developing cricketers.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor them, this tournament is about being able to understand winning and what you need to do to become better cricketers.\u201d<\/p>\n
With several young players in the squad, the side is set to call upon their senior players to help them in the title defence.<\/p>\n
WA batter Mikayala Hinkley, who played a starring role in last year\u2019s final, is set to be one of the senior players critical to the side\u2019s fortunes again this year.<\/p>\n
Hinkley joins Veronica Keen as a co-captain for this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n
Stewart said it was a big boost for the squad to be able to call upon a player of Hinkley\u2019s calibre for the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to coach Mikayla at club level, and I\u2019ve seen her do some pretty special things at that level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few other states have state contracted players in their squads, but Mikayla is in charge of leadership from a cricketing and cultural perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart said he also expected Keen to have another prolific tournament as a leader of the squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cVeronica took a little bit of a breather through the middle part of this season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s obviously played a lot of second 11 cricket for WA and has been an important part of Midland-Guildford\u2019s team that made the final this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s another year older and wiser and it will be good for her to have that added leadership around her.\u201d<\/p>\n
While opposition sides will be on red alert to the co-captains, Stewart said there was plenty of young talent that would help the side\u2019s cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to seeing Charlotte Toohey throughout the tournament,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s 17, which is cool to think about, and went away last year with the Australian Indigenous side and played well for us too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s also a great opportunity for someone like Milani McColl, who\u2019s only 14.\u201d<\/p>\n
WA commences their campaign against Queensland on Tuesday in a rematch of last year\u2019s of Grand Final.<\/p>\n