CRICKET
EXPORTS
By TOM HAYES
CRICKETING export Nicole Faltum will travel to New Zealand later this month after being called up to the Australian international women’s side for the first time.
After Alyssa Healy was ruled out of the tour, the opportunity presented itself for Faltum, who has developed into a wicketkeeper-batter in recent years.
Faltum has been selected for Australia A on numerous occasions, even captaining the Governor-General’s XI against England in January.
She received a call from the head selector, Shawn Flegler, early last week to confirm the news which he said she was “obviously so stoked about”.
Her inclusion to the squad is described as ‘keeping cover’ for Beth Mooney, who is expected to be behind the stumps in New Zealand, while Georgia Voll is expected to move into the XI to fill the top-order batting position.
Faltum and Mooney captained the Melbourne Stars and Perth Scorchers respectively in a WBBL match in November 2022 at Moe’s Ted Summerton Reserve.
“It’s been a big six to 12 months, there’s been quite a few Australia A series that I’ve been fortunate and lucky enough to be involved in… obviously winning the WBBL was an amazing achievement and a really, really cool experience in itself,” she told the Express.
“Playing for Victoria in the WNCL it’s been really cool, and (I’m) finding some good consistency there.”
Australia’s tour of New Zealand will take place from March 21 to 26, for a three-game T20 International series.
As far as Faltum is concerned, she has been told to be a sponge and enjoy the tour.
“There is some really mature heads in there and some people that have been playing for quite a long time, basically I’ll be a sponge, lap it all up and enjoy the experience,” Faltum said.
“It’s nice to know that I’m taking some steps in the right direction and doing the right things, and (I’m) definitely determined to just keep working hard and try to keep performing every team that I play in and try to make it a consistent thing.”
