NDCA women's league gets Tighan Tosen back in the game

The Eleebana 39-year-old fell in love with cricket as a teenager growing up in Victoria.

She discovered the sport with her school team then played in boys' competitions until joining a women's league at around 17.

Tosen continued to play women's cricket in Canberra while at university and was keen to pick it up when she moved to Newcastle in 2008.

"When I first moved here, I contacted the local cricket association to see if there was a women's competition," Tosen told the Newcastle Herald.

"I was told unfortunately not and the girls who were really keen to play were travelling to Sydney. I was at the stage where I didn't want to be doing that."

Tosen was quick to jump on board when women's social sixers cricket began in Newcastle a few years ago.

From there, Wests asked her to join their team in the newly formed Newcastle District Cricket Association women's league and, after a lengthy spell, she was back in the game.

"The body was a bit sore after that first training session, I'm not going to lie," Tosen said. "But it's so much fun. I get such a buzz out of it.

"We didn't get many games in last year because of the weather, but I was just so excited to be back out on the field."

The NDCA women's league, which is played midweek in a T20 format, is in its third season and has grown from four teams in year one to now nine. There were five last campaign.

The rapid growth of the game and the opportunity available to women and girls in Newcastle is not lost on the lawyer and mother of two daughters, aged five and eight.

"We've shown building from last season to this season that there's plenty of women out there who want to play, so it's great now that we've got that opportunity," the Wests vice-captain said.

"There's a lot of young kids in the teams and for them to get the opportunity to work on their craft is really good and I'd love to see it build into something bigger.

"My eight-year-old daughter is playing for the first time this season.

"If she wants to keep going then it would be fantastic if 10 years down the track there's a really strong women's league in Newcastle."

Wests have recorded one win and one loss as they prepare to face unbeaten Wests Rosellas in round four at Harker Oval on Wednesday afternoon.

"Wests have been right behind the women's game from the start and are the first club to field two teams," Tosen said.

"It will be good to see how we go. We haven't seen much of them yet but understand they're a bit of a young gun team, so it will be a real test for us. But that's good.

"Our team has a good core group that have been playing since the competition started, so this will be their third season together. But we've had a few new girls join the team this year who haven't played before, which is what you want to see - more people coming to the sport.

"We're building constantly and the confidence is growing in each of the girls, which is great."

Waratah-Mayfield host Charlestown at Waratah Oval, Newcastle City meet Hamilton-Wickham at Learmonth Park and Warners Bay play Belmont at Feighan Oval.

Merewether have the bye. All games are at 5pm.

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