Melissa Parter admits she’s still on a high after her Australian team won the women’s over 30s Indoor Cricket World Masters in Sri Lanka this month.
“I’m having little memories pop up each day since my return to reality and I just giggle and feel filled with joy and pride,” Mel said.
The Mackay HHS mental health and social worker said she was immensely proud to be the wicketkeeper as part of the Australian indoor cricket team at the world’s biggest masters tournament.
“What an absolute honour and a privilege to represent Australia in the Indoor Cricket Masters World Series in Colombo,” she said.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life. I always had a dream as a little girl to represent my country.
“The number of teams and the number of players involved in the tournament was record breaking.
“Sri Lanka put on a spectacular opening ceremony acknowledging tournament officials, players and sponsors and included a traditional dance performance; that was a very special and memorable experience.”
The Australian team faced some tough competition against Sri Lanka, India, England, New Zealand and South Africa in the nine-game, eight-day tournament.
Mel said the Aussie’s first game against New Zealand set a very high standard for the entire competition and they continued to perform consistently making it through the first round undefeated.
In round two they faced New Zealand, although the second time “we didn’t quite get the runs we needed on the board to hold them off from taking the win”.
“However at the end of the round we held first position on the ladder securing us an opportunity in the major semi. We then beat New Zealand in that sending us straight through to the grand final,” she said.
New Zealand had to play off for second place and defeated South Africa for a spot in the grand final.
Mel said she enjoyed “living the life of a professional athlete” complete with recovery massages and physio treatment. It ultimately helped ensure the Aussie team was physically and mentally prepared for the gruelling final game which boiled down to the final six balls and the Kiwis unable to score the final 30 runs required.
“We batted the house down, scored a good total, then went out to field and bowled fairly good line and length and the wickets just came; and so did victory in the masters world cup,” she said.
“So we actually played New Zealand four times out of nine games in the world cup because they always sat in second position.”
Other highlights of the 12-day trip were visiting Lotus Tower, Colombo Cricket Oval, temples and an elephant orphanage, she said.
Mel returned home to Australia on 7 October and was straight back the first-grade women’s outdoor competition and her leadership role as coach and captain of the Mackay Breakers Komatsu Team. She returned to work at Community Mental Health on October 15.
“I have hit the ground running but I’m thoroughly enjoying sharing my knowledge, skills and level of experience to support the next generation of female cricketers and encourage them to train, play well and consider a future in women’s cricket,” she said.
“Women’s cricket is booming and the opportunities for athlete pathways, teams and competitions is enormous. That’s something I missed out on; I reckon I would have given it a good crack had these opportunities been around 15 to 20 years ago.”
Mel is having a 12-month break from representative indoor cricket to undertake further study. She also intends to take her children on an overseas holiday.
“I have sacrificed a lot in recent years and now it’s time to soak up the achievements and move on to bigger and better things,” she said.
“No doubt my heart will be searching for further representative opportunities in the future, but for now we will wait and see.”
Congratulations to Mel on this fantastic achievement!
