By David Nagel
Some sports people can wait a lifetime to experience the thrill and excitement of participating on grand final day.
But try telling that to up-and-coming Cardinia fast-bowler Brooklyn Diwell who doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.
Brooklyn, or ‘Chook’ as she is known to her teammates, took to the field in three grand finals on the weekend, a fantastic achievement at the ripe-old age of 14.
She played on Friday night against Tooradin, Saturday afternoon against Devon Meadows, before backing up for a Sunday morning contest against Clyde.
The weekend didn’t exactly pan out has hoped for the exciting quick, losing all three games, but it hasn’t diminished her excitement one little bit. The highlight of her weekend came when she took three wickets for just seven runs in a close loss to Tooradin.
“It’s been really exciting because I haven’t had much experience in the past but this year has been really good for me,” Brooklyn said, before explaining how she grew to love the game.
“I’ve always grown up with cricket since I was really young, I started playing at a young age, about six, and it’s always been something that I really enjoy. My dad Danny got me in to cricket and we’ve taken it from there.”
Brooklyn has the pedigree to succeed, with dad Danny a star player for many years at Cardinia, Devon Meadows and Merinda Park, while Cardinia stalwart and current-day president Luke Turner is the partner of Brooklyn’s mum Kim.
The exciting prospect just loves the idea of steaming in and bowling fast.
“I’m a pace bowler and the idea of being able to get wickets is really fun and exciting,” she said.
“I love knocking the stumps out of the ground.”
Brooklyn is not a big watcher of elite-standard cricket but does possess dreams of taking her craft to the next level. And she has some tremendous support at Cardinia to help her do so.
“I’ve definitely got dreams of going further with my cricket but at the moment it’s about having fun and developing my game and then I’ll get serious a bit later,” she said.
Brooklyn said she had received great support from players like Ben Parrot, Brayden Brown and Brad Drews, while Cardinia club coach Bradey Welsh has also been instrumental in her development.
“I remember seeing her bowl for the first time and she really caught my eye, I was blown away by how good she is,” Welsh, part of the Bulls’ senior premiership on Saturday, explained.
“Brooklyn is a fantastic athlete and is really keen to learn. She doesn’t really know how good she is and how good she could be, she’s very talented. She has been bowling to the senior group over the last few weeks and has really impressed, she’s got a tremendous future in the game.”
Brooklyn wanted to thank her mum Kim, and Luke, for taking her to all her games, and to all her teammates for making cricket so much fun.
