The Wrap Grace Harris Becomes The First Aussie Cricketer To Take A Hat Trick In The Wpl

Welcome to The Wrap, a weekly podcast covering women's sports news bears.

What have we got around the grounds this week?

Grace Harris has become the first Aussie cricketer to take a hat-trick in at the WPL.

American skier Michaela Schifrin has won her 100th World Cup race

and the WNBL finals are heating up.

For the key story, we'll discuss the stats which reveal a dramatic growth

in participation for women and girls in football in Australia

since the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

My name is Chloe Dalton.

I'm joined every week on the show by my co-host, Bez.

There's a lot. We've got a lot going on this week.

We're hosting their first ever TFAP Summit on Wednesday.

Very exciting. I cannot wait for the Summit.

Oh my goodness. Exclusive 20 athletes are going to be there for the first time.

Interactive workshops. I'm so excited.

Event organising is somewhat stressful, but we're going to get there.

We are always learning. Every day we learn.

Love it. Cannot wait to see those athletes and we'll have all the content across social

so you guys can check out what the day is like.

Thursday, also, new episode with Molly Taylor is dropping.

I thought you were about to tell everyone that we're going to see Billie,

or as I like to call her, Willie Mylash on Thursday.

Oh my gosh. Thursday night, we're going to be busy.

I actually, also, the Flames are playing in the WNBL finals at the same location,

so we need to check timings.

Can we double that up?

Can we double that up?

That would be epic.

Because Flames in to Billie Eilish.

I almost called her Billie Eilish because of you.

Would be epic.

Yeah, that's happening on Thursday.

But Thursday morning, 6am, there's a new episode with Molly Taylor dropping.

She's a car race driver.

She goes fast.

She goes really, really fast.

She is, yeah, she's an incredible Aussie driver.

She competes in the Extreme E Championships,

which is a really unique competition,

which we chat about on The Wrap a lot of the time,

where they are very,

very conscious about the impacts of climate change.

They compete in areas that have been infected by climate change.

The cars get shipped on boats, which sounds like a funny thing to say.

Anyway, Molly's epic.

So make sure you listen out for that one Thursday morning.

We are recording on Cattergill land.

Let's take a look around the grounds.

WNBL finals time, as we already said.

So in the basketball semifinals are off to a red hot start with the Townsville Fire

beating the Perth Lynx 92-2.

We're going to have a look around the grounds.

We're going to have a look around the grounds.

We're going to have a look around the grounds.

in game one of their final series.

The third successive semifinal series between the two teams saw the Fire up 27-16 at quarter time.

Townsville maintained that lead heading into the break seven points ahead.

And it's seen the domination was going to continue in the third

with the Fire ahead by 14 points midway through the third quarter.

But that's when the Lynx begin, began to make their move outscoring Townsville 18-4.

We saw them all just back squared just before three quarter time.

That's a big run, 18-4, isn't it?

That's a big run.

Why was there a timeout not called sooner than that?

I do not know.

Townsville's Nia Coffey hit a three on three-quarter time,

and the Fire went back into the lead early in the fourth.

The Lynx responded with three bombs to Ali Wilson and Annalie Mailey.

When Wilson hit her third three of the game with two minutes left,

Perth were in front for the first time since the opening stages.

That is clutch.

But like a good game of ping pong, it was the Fire who took back control

from there, closing the game with an 8-2 run.

Out of the 92 points, 36 of those came from Nia Coffey,

who proved the decisive factor in giving the Fire a 1-0 lead heading into game two.

That's a nice 36 in finals time, isn't it?

Nice.

Contribution.

Thank you.

Could not think of the word.

Nice.

Nice number.

Meanwhile, in the second final series,

the Bendigo Spirit have beaten the Sydney Flames,

76-67 in game one,

notching up their first finals win in a decade.

That's been, that's 10 years.

Bendigo were down by seven early in the contest,

but went on a solid run to lead by 12 a quarter time.

The margin blew out beyond 20 in the second period,

and Sydney's task got even tougher when Shanice Swain went down with a knee injury.

Oh, that's not good because she's heading over to the WNBA.

She sure is.

I hope she's all right.

It wasn't helped by the fact that Bendigo's league MVP,

Sammy Wickham, posted a double-double,

which included a game-high 26 points.

She is tough to shut down when she gets going.

While the Flames never quite brought the heat during game one,

Talia Tapia racked up 16 points and Kayla George, 14,

but it wasn't quite enough to get the Sydney Siders over the line,

going down by nine points at the final buzzer.

Thursday night, game two, come on.

Let's get the job done.

Surely they'll get it done at home.

In some Hockey Roos news,

it's been a tough start for the Hockey Roos in the FIH Pro League campaign in Europe,

suffering narrow losses to both Belgium and Argentina.

In the first game,

host Argentina snuck out to an early two-goal lead over Australia,

with a fast goal out wide and another coming off a penalty corner.

Argentina would hold that lead until the fourth quarter,

when the Hockey Roos had built enough momentum to produce an impressive

second-half goal from Jade Smith.

Ultimately, that was all that would come from that second-half term,

with the final score remaining 2-1.

And it was a case of deja vu for the Hockey Roos in their next game

against Belgium,

as the Aussies found themselves desperately hunting for an equaliser

in the final minutes of the match.

That never came.

The World No. 3 side showcased their world-class ranking,

holding possession and dominating circle entries before finally making it count

in the opening seconds of the second quarter,

scoring the first of two goals that would ultimately seal the win.

Ballinghine would bag her second towards the end of the third

before the Hockey Roos were rewarded for their added pressure in the fourth

with a sublime goal to Mariah Williams.

In a bit of cricket news, staying overseas,

Aussie Grace Harris has become the first Australian to take a hat-trick

in the Women's Premier League cricket in India,

and only the third in the history of the competition.

That's excellent.

I'm kind of surprised that there hasn't been more hat-tricks in that comp,

because best players in the world are there, right?

Absolutely.

The feat came in the UP Warriors women's 33-run win over the Delhi Capitals women.

And just a reminder for the non-cricket fans,

in cricket, a hat-trick occurs when a bowler takes three wickets

from three consecutive darts.

So basically, three wickets in a row.

It's pretty impressive.

It's very impressive.

How do you feel?

Talk me through walking in as that third batter,

ready to face the hat-trick goal.

That was my nervous laugh.

That's what I'd be doing.

Don't stuff it up.

Don't be the third.

You'd just be like, where's she going to put it?

Yeah, overthinking city, right?

The match was effectively over when Harris came on to bowl her third over

and the final over of the game.

As Delhi were 1-14.

4-7 and still needed 33 runs to win.

So Harris was pretty relaxed, I reckon, going into that over.

The Aussie made sure the Capitals weren't going to score another run.

With the first ball, she had Nikki Prasad caught by Chanel Henry

at deep mid-wicket for 18.

Her next delivery, a full toss, was then hit straight to cover and caught.

Oh, so that was a bit of a...

The full toss was risky.

A little bit of luck going on in that one.

Minu Marnie struck the next delivery straight back to Harris,

who held the catch.

After juggling the ball but managed to hold on to it.

We need to clip that up with some footage.

Absolutely.

Bold and caught is impressive.

Bold and caught.

What do we say?

Caught and bowled?

I don't really know.

The correct terminology is caught and bowled.

Well, it's bowled and then caught.

You're right.

It shouldn't be caught and bowled.

And when you said that, I thought about it in a chronological way

and you're right, but it's...

Bowled and then caught.

It's definitely caught and bowled, but you're right.

Yeah, but that's what she did.

We're just having an argument mid-podcast.

Anyway.

Anyway, after the game, Harris told media,

I think I manifested this.

I was joking when I was asked what my plans would be

in the bowlers' meeting and I said I would do this and that

and would get a hat trick.

We have these casual meetings,

but they all started laughing when I got it.

Love that.

Manifest it.

In some more manifesting cricket news,

the Women's National Cricket League,

New South Wales have claimed a vital win over the ACT Meteors

thanks to the batting heroics of Talia Wilson,

who is in fine form.

Wilson's 142 runs from 159 balls

helped the Breakers put on 8 for 271,

a score which the Meteors couldn't reach in the second innings,

crashing to the earth.

All that for 229.

Crashing to the earth, the Meteors.

That's good.

In a shower.

Let's talk about Talia Wilson though for a moment.

Firstly, she is a wicketkeeper batter.

Her innings of 142 against the ACT was her fifth WNCL century

and her highest score.

The 25-year-old is now third on the list of New South Wales century,

makers in the WNCL,

behind Alex Blackwell, who has 11,

and Rachel Haynes, who has six,

and ahead of Elisa Healy, who has four,

and Elise Perry on three.

She's moved past Elise Perry into ninth place

on the list of New South Wales all-time run scorers in the competition.

Do you reckon, Woodpez, I want to know the stats.

Would Pez still be ahead if her Victorian career was included?

I'm going to say yes.

But also, those top dogs don't play a lot of WNCL anymore.

Well, they don't at all, actually.

So, yeah.

However, not to take anything away from she obviously can find the middle

of the bat, in the same game she passed 2,000 WNCL runs

and surpassed Belinda Clark's previous record of 611

for the highest season aggregate for New South Wales in the WNCL.

Not bad to overtake Belinda Clark.

She's killing it.

The only record Talia missed, oh, even better if Talia,

was Elisa Healy's New South Wales record score of 159

that she posted in the 2016-2017 season.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

Pretty bloody excellent.

In a bit of football news, it's been a tough start for the Tillys

at the She Believes Cup, going down 2-1 to the USA

after a 4-0 loss to Japan.

What day would we say that was?

Friday morning.

Friday.

Yeah.

In game one against Japan, Japan's Mina Tanaka opened the scoring

in the sixth minute before she found the back of the net again

just before halftime to go into the break with a 2-0 lead.

Another two goals would seal the deal in the second half.

That one hurt, didn't it?

Rough.

Rough.

Australia's closest chance to scoring in the game came

when Charlie Grant hit the crossbar late in the final five minutes of the game.

Matilda's interim coach, Tom Samani, told media,

this is a pretty, this is a savage summation.

We were outplayed football-wise.

We were outplayed physically.

We were outplayed mentally, outplayed on our decision-making.

So there wasn't a lot of positive things to take away from today's performance.

Probably the most disappointing thing was even despite that,

I felt some of the goals that we gave up were very poor and that's kind of un-Australian.

An accurate summation, do you think?

I haven't watched the game.

I was at the airport, but I think Tom Samani is well within his rights to call plays out like that.

4-0 is not good enough.

Yeah.

What are Japan?

Japan ranked eighth at the moment.

I believe so.

Look, they're an excellent side, but so are we.

Yeah.

4-0 is not, you're not in the game.

You're not in the game with 4-0.

Next game against number one ranked US women's team got off to the worst start possible.

We were watching that earlier this morning.

41 seconds.

To go from their goalkeeper to a goal.

So 41 seconds, the goal was scored in, but the ball was at the other end of the field.

So it was pretty much like, what, 25 seconds?

Oh, it was pretty rough.

Rough.

There's a dog in here.

Oh dear.

Someone help us.

Yeah.

As we said in the first minute, the goal was scored for the US via Lynn Biandolo, but it

was positive signs for the Tillys who had seven shots on target throughout the game.

I think that was one of the stats I saw at the Japan game.

We didn't have a single shot on target.

That is seriously concerning.

That's very concerning.

The US had 14 though.

And as you said, massive improvement on the Japan game for us.

Interestingly, Mackenzie Arnold was dropped from the starting lineup while Katrina Gurry

Claire Hunt and Tamika Yallop also started from the bench.

Despite multiple chances from the Matildas, it was the US who would score again in the 68th minute

with Michelle Cooper getting her first international goal for the US.

But the Tillys were determined to come away with something to show for their performance.

And that came in the 80th minute when Hayley Razo delivered a picture-perfect cross to Michelle

Heyman, who ran onto the ball and headed the ball into the net.

Final score 2-1, marking two consecutive losses for Australia in the She Believes Cup.

We chatted about that Tom Samani summation of the Japan game.

Interestingly, it's kind of weird to read that he's still the interim coach.

Like, how long has that been now?

So Tony Kassassin stood down after the Olympics.

Yeah, correct.

So we're talking eight months.

It's a long time for an interim coach.

And has there been any noise about his successor, about whether he could be the full-time coach?

I haven't seen any.

Which I think is probably concerning.

And obviously not knowing what's going on behind closed doors with the Tillys.

I just, from my personal experience, and I kind of asked for your personal experience

being in a team environment, any kind of uncertainty at that level, it does affect performance.

There's no two ways about it.

The fact that there's still an interim coach, there's still, it doesn't seem to be any

concrete way forward with that coaching position.

And I can't help but think that that is having an impact on the players.

I know, I know I would feel that in a group environment.

And I know there's been so much discussion around, I don't want to call it a World Cup

hangover because I don't think that's fair to the players, but there was so much incredible

success, so much pressure on these players.

And they were exhausted, the poor things heading into the Olympics, returning to their respective

clubs internationally, like they traveled a ridiculous amount.

There was injuries and the like.

I think as a player, it's so difficult.

It's difficult to find a way to get motivated again when the World Cup's over, the Olympics

are over.

And yes, playing in the She Believes Cup is an awesome opportunity.

We know how huge football is in the US at the moment.

I think it's tough if you don't have a very clear direction, as you said, like if you

don't have, this is your long-term coach.

This is what the plan is for the future of the women's game here in Australia as the

national team.

I think it's really tough to like fully buy in if you're exhausted.

I totally agree.

Thank you.

I think it's interesting.

I think it's definitely time for Football Australia to come out and, you know, really

be clear about the direction for the Tillies in that coaching space because it cannot be

helping what they're putting out on the field at the moment.

Glad we're agreeing, not arguing anymore.

It's not arguing.

It's just debate.

A healthy debate.

A healthy debate.

We love a healthy debate.

We mostly agree sometimes debate.

Oh, it wasn't very healthy this morning, unfortunately, for the Aussie Sevens girls.

So in Vancouver, Canada, I think it's actually pronounced Canada, the Aussie women's

Sevens team will battle against Japan for bronze any moment now, just as we're recording.

After going down 29-10 to New Zealand in the semis, Stacey Wacker, back from a bit of

Rugger League, looking good in that Black Ferns again.

Very good.

Man, she's so hard to tackle.

So strong.

She got the opener for the Kiwis.

After a nice combo with Georgia Miller, which was quickly answered by Charlotte Kaslich,

who just burst onto a great pop-up pass.

It was, she was flying with her long socks on.

Weird seeing Charlotte in long socks.

Well, it's because of that.

Long skins thing.

It's because of that horrific surface they play on in Vancouver that takes all of your

skin off.

Oh, don't get me started on the AstroTurf.

You can speak, speak from experience on that.

Michaela Brake got New Zealand's lead back to seven points before Miller extended the

lead further at halftime.

With Nathan gave the Aussies some hope with a try on the corner with three minutes to

go.

But in the end, it was Wacker's second that put the game out of reach and they scored

one more just to rub it in.

It's been a mixed bag for the Aussies in Vancouver.

We beat Great Britain, Canada and Spain, but we had a little shock defeat to Brazil in

the pool matches, which resulted in us meeting the Kiwis in the semi.

That's where that stuff comes back to bite you because you do, you want to come up against

your number one opponent in the final and an early crossover in the semis has got to

hurt.

Really interesting semi-final on the AstroTurf.

The other side, that's not a semi-final that anyone would have predicted.

So the other side of the draw saw Japan go down to Fiji.

I love that for Japan.

Like they, they are just, they're a great rugby nation and they have been, that team

have been working for a number of years.

I was really stoked to see them in the semi.

A quick shout out to Michaela Brake as well, who became the leading try scorer of the women's

rugby seven series.

259, but that'd be in the 260s easily now.

Overtook her teammate, Portia Woodman, who I think, did she hold that for 10 years?

Yeah.

That's ridiculous.

Absolutely ridiculous.

We've got an update from producer Soph.

They just won bronze.

She said, hello.

She's yelling at me in the chat.

They just won bronze.

Australia have secured a bronze medal with a 26 to 12.

Good reading, Chloe.

26 to 12 win over Japan.

The Japanese stunned the Aussies with the first try of the game through Hinako Utsumi.

Tia Hines steadied the Australians with a great show and go to level the scores with

Faith Nathan scoring.

After the game, the Aussies won the game.

Japan kept the game close with a second try, only for Charlotte Kazik to respond to restore

the lead.

Hines' second try sealed the win and third place.

Well done to the Aussie women getting the job done to wrap out the bronze.

Dirty gold.

Well done, girls.

In a bit of snow sports news, American slalom skier.

Did I get this story?

Because you hate that word.

Is that what's going on here?

I just can't say it.

Imagine you trying to say slalom skier, Michaela Schifrin.

Go.

No.

Do it.

American slalom skier.

Slalom skier.

Slalom.

Is it slalom or slalom?

See, this is where I, I just, for some reason in my mind, it has to be slalom.

You can say that.

Yeah, but it's not.

So I shouldn't.

Okay.

American slalom skier.

No.

No.

Next.

One more time.

No.

American slalom skier, Michaela Schifrin has claimed the hundredth, hundredth.

Hundredth.

World Cup victory of her career over the weekend, winning the Sestriere World Cup event in Italy.

Okay.

The victory comes less than three months after a crash in her first attempt at the milestone

left her with her, with a punctured wound in her abdomen and severe muscle trauma.

Skiing is dangerous.

It's so brutal.

Her and her husband, fiance, partner, who is a fellow athlete of the snow situations,

they are injured all the time, the two of them.

It's just like when you're cold, things hurt more too.

When Schifrin crossed the finish line of the slalom in Sestriere, Italy, she fell to the

snow, overwhelmed by the moment and all it's taken for her to get to it.

She told media, today was just an amazing day in the middle of some really tough months.

She added, I'm very thankful for this day.

An extraordinary 63 of Schifrin's record hundred World Cup wins have come in slalom, while a

large chunk of her other wins have come from the giant slalom event and bears the difference

being slalom is not as giant as the other one.

I kind of thought maybe you would have something there.

I think I do.

Is it the steepness?

Nah, we'll have to tell you later.

Let's take a look at the key story.

Football Australia has this week unveiled record-breaking growth in participation numbers

across grassroots and community women's football.

The 2024 National Participation Report confirms football as Australia's most popular and fastest

growing sport, with over 1.9 million participants nationwide.

Particularly, participation among women and girls in football rose by 16 per cent compared to the

previous year, resulting in 221,000 women and girls in football.

That's a total of 1,436 women and girls playing football around the country.

Huge.

Massive.

Why do we think that is, Chloe?

I'd say probably because they hosted a World Cup and these young people saw, maybe I could try that.

Visibility.

Who knew, who knew?

James Johnson, CEO of Football Australia, attributes a lot of the success to a home soil World Cup.

Oh, James agrees with you.

Great, pleasure.

The FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023.

Inspired.

By the generation, and we are determined to harness that momentum to unite and grow football across the country.

Before we jump into a quick little chat about the World Cups, because I'm so here for that.

Giant slalom from Soph is similar to the slalom with fewer but wider and smoother turns.

Oh, the gates aren't as quiet.

And then giant is shh, is that what you're thinking?

Yeah.

Is that how you read that?

Yeah.

Correct.

I like it.

Not as tight turning.

Not as tight turning.

You are heading, I've put it on the calendar over there, I put your little stickers on, you're heading to the Women's Rugby World Cup over in England later this year.

What do you think, what kind of impact do you think that will have?

Because the Red Roses have done an incredible job for women's rugby over in the UK already.

Yeah, absolutely.

And they've already spoken to us that we've been on a few calls about the legacy piece of this tournament, which is so important that the tournament, whilst it will obviously attract millions of eyes, we make sure that we convert.

But a good percentage of that into participants.

And I think that's what Football Australia is talking about here is when you've got the attention of the public, you have to make sure that you convert it and that there's competitions available for people to either rejoin the sport or learn the sport or, you know, the whole gamut of opportunity for people to actually participate because it's so important.

And I'll get back to some of the positive data that's come out of this.

But I think probably what's made me a little bit sad.

Like with the A-League women's, we know how huge these leagues are overseas.

I think that's been a really big missed opportunity that so many of these homegrown heroes, rather than being in the A-League women's competition.

I just think that would have been a completely different story if you'd had these players here for the long term playing for their local clubs.

Yeah.

So that's, I think that's tough.

Comparing it to the PWR over in the UK.

That's right, isn't it?

Yeah.

When you say an acronym, you're like, that's what it's called, isn't it?

I know Alona Marr's not British, but she's playing for the Bristol Bears.

Like what you can do for the domestic leagues is very different when you've got top end talent.

Absolutely.

Football Australia believes an increased focus on diversity and inclusion has been a cornerstone of its grassroots efforts.

The National Volunteer Focus Group brought together 28 clubs to address challenges in volunteer recruitment and retention,

with a particular emphasis on engaging women and girls.

The resulting action plans aim for 40% women, 40% men, and 20% flexible role structure,

ensuring gender balance and inclusivity across all levels of the game.

Interestingly, registered coaches and volunteers also increased by 19 and 26%, respectively,

reflecting a growing workforce to support the game.

While social football engagement grew by 13%, up to almost 175,000 social players,

however, it's interesting to note that women and girls still only make up 11% of the total football playing community in Australia.

Wow.

Because it's weird, right, when you hear these big increases, but then when you see it as part of the whole picture,

it's 11% is really small.

It is small, but it's obviously increased.

So it's on the right path.

It's got the right trajectory.

I think there's definitely barriers that still remain in that space in regards to access to facilities.

It's definitely one of the biggest ones.

Feeling welcomed and accepted in and around some of these male-dominated spaces is a challenge for some women and girls.

There's no doubt about that.

I like to think, though, that whilst it's only 11%, as I said, it is growing.

And on the flip side of that, you say only 11%, it also means that if, again, when we talk about investment,

there's a massive, massive opportunity to make that 11% into 40%.

With the right investment.

Yeah, I love that.

Let's take a look at what to watch.

In the FIH Pro League, the Hockey Roos will be out for revenge after narrowly losing 2-1 to Belgium just a few days ago.

The match starts on Tuesday at 11.30 AEDT.

So after you've listened to this on the way to work in the morning, turn on the telly.

You can watch live and free on 7+.

The Townsville Fire host the Perth Lynx this Wednesday at 7.30 p.m. AEDT,

while the Sydney Flames host the Bendigo Spurs.

Spirit the next night at 7.00 p.m. AEDT.

You can catch the semifinals series live and free across the Nine Network.

The Tillys will be looking to rewrite the wrongs of the She Believes Cup so far

when they play their first ever senior match against Colombia.

The match kicks off Thursday at 11.30 a.m. AEDT, and you can watch it live on Paramount+.

In golf, the HSBC Women's World Golf Championship returns to Singapore this week,

where you can watch the world's best go face-to-face.

The action tees off.

This Thursday, February 27th, you can follow along on KO Sports.

And rugby is back.

Yeah, it is.

Super Rugby Women's is back for 2025.

We've played some trials.

We're ready to get going.

So round one kicks off this Friday when the New South Wales Waratahs host the Fijian Drua in Sydney

in a grand final rematch.

The match kicks off at 5.05 p.m. AEDT.

You can watch everything Super W on Stan Sport.

And your role?

Bez, for a quick refresher for people who don't know, or maybe they're new to the podcast.

I am the manager of the Women's Waratahs team.

Yeah, you are.

Up the tars.

Up the tars.

I am lethal with a clipboard.

And clipboard.

In a bit of Rugby League, what to watch?

Vegas.

How good.

For the first time in history, Women's Rugby League is heading to Vegas

when the Jularoos take on the old enemy England this weekend.

The match kicks off on Sunday the 2nd at 1.15 p.m. AEDT.

Yeah, we can watch it live.

Across the Nine Network in Foxtel.

How good.

So good.

It'll be interesting to see how that goes.

It's a smaller field over there.

Those NFL fields are tight.

Tight.

There might be a lot more contact.

It'll be great.

Rush and bash.

That's the wrap.

See you next week.

Survived it.

Bye-bye.