For the love of the glove

By Justin Robertson
FOR as long as she can remember, Longwarry’s Beth Serong has always looked up to Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
The 14-year-old put her hand up to keep wickets at the Longwarry Cricket Club – a club she has spent three years at – and hasn’t taken off the gloves since then.
The Gippsland Pride representative of two years put her crafty glove work on display for Victoria in the recent Under-15 National Championships held in Sydney.
For Serong, it was a week she’ll never forget in a hurry.
“It was really great,” Serong said. “All the girls are nice, we all got along well, and it was such a great experience.”
Team Victoria made a cracking start to the tournament when they easily accounted for Western Australia by 29 runs and Tasmania by seven wickets. After a nail-biting two run loss to Queensland, the Vics then lost their remaining three matches to New South Wales (by 29 runs), South Australia (25 runs) and Australian Capital Territory (by 28 runs).
Although the Vics could only manage two wins from the rain-soaked championship, Serong said it was all one big learning experience.
“It was a bit disappointing we couldn’t show a little bit more,” she said.
“We all learnt from our mistakes and as a team and hopefully will do better next time.”
Serong will get another chance this week as she prepares herself for the under-18 National Championship that includes four one-day games in four days.
“I’m excited and nervous,” she said. “I just want to get out there and play.”