Women's Cricket Comes to the Gordon DCC - Part 1

Gordon District Cricket Club | January 08, 2026

Women’s cricket has been played in Sydney from the 1890s. While most games were organised as charity events, intercolonial matches were also being played. The Gregory sisters were prominent in these early days, cricket being a well-established family tradition. Their father Edward was the groundsman at the Association Ground, now known as the Sydney Cricket Ground, and their brothers Sydney and Charles were both interstate cricketers, with Sydney going on to represent his country.

One of the three sisters, Helen (known as Ellie), married the Australian cricketer Harry Donnan and through their connections in later years were able to enlist other notable players including Charlie Macartney and Bert Oldfield to provide coaching instruction to players.

Women’s Grade cricket in Sydney was formalised in 1928 with the formation of the New South Wales Women’s Cricket Association. From this time there have been several North Shore-based clubs, the earliest being Kuring-gai which was formed by the Peden sisters. There is a record of the Kuring-gai team playing a match against their ‘Fathers and Uncles’ at Chatswood Oval in April 1932 in front of a crowd of 2000.

In July 1982 two established teams from a local competition, Mirrabooka and Pymble, were approached by the Gordon DCC to combine and compete in the Sydney Women’s Cricket Association. While the Pymble club was a relative newcomer to the Sydney Women’s Grade Competition, Mirrabooka had been formed in 1958 by Wendy Relton, Norma Styles, Beau Aspinall and Sue Prell who became Gordon Women’s first Club Patron. Their aim was to offer something special to the members of the club, and the wider circle of women’s cricket, an aim that Gordon still upholds.

First XI – Minor Premiers and Premiers 1983-84

Back row l to r: Christine Brierley, Erica Sainsbury, Sally Moffat, Jo Watts, Sally Griffiths, Judy Laing, Monika Brogan

Front row l to r: Judith Gillespie, Carol Coleman, Karen Price (captain), Denise Annetts (vice-captain), Anna Gillespie

© The Cricket Press Pty Ltd, RL Cardwell and Karen Price

Image © Gordon Women's DCC

BeaconPoint Spotlight with Paul Ryan – Batting Techniques, Accountability, and the Future of Australian Cricket