Trish Wilkinson Award

Trish Wilkinson Award

Trish Wilkinson passed away far too soon, in December of last year, aged 45yrs old.

Why we have chosen to use her name as the herald for our women & girls section major prize?

Trish was a truly lovely person, she was never heard to have a bad word said for anyone, she was a quiet, private person who, despite her persistent poor health problems, did not complain. She just loved being a part of this village & she loved playing cricket.

Her parents Pete & June Wilkinson were huge supporters of the club; her brother Mark played at both 1^st & 2^nd team level & she played in the 2^nd team in the early 2000’s.

Trish was, as far as we are aware, the first female cricketer to represent the club in senior cricket.  (We checked with Mike Davies, he isn’t aware of any women playing for the club in the 1800’s, so we’re on solid information here) 

Trish did not have the opportunity that our girls benefit from now - no 3^rd or 4^th teams to help with the step up to playing 2^nd team, nor were there any women or girl’s teams locally she could have joined, but that did not stop her pursuing a sport she loved.

Her cricket career was interrupted with health issues, which meant she only played for 2-3 seasons, but during her time with the 2^nd team she was not a token selection. Trish earned her place in the team, in one season earning the “performance of the year award” for figures of 3 wickets for 4 runs vs Blackrod, memorably, winning us the game from an impossible position.

Trish just wanted to play cricket for her village club, accept her role in the team, take pride in her performance, encourage her teammates & rejoice in their collective success or not of the team.

If, each year, the recipient of this prize has the same approach to their cricket, they will not go far wrong.

We are pleased to announce the winner of the Trish Wilkinson Award goes to Hannah Leonard.