GONG FOR STALWART

A local volunteer has smashed a six after being recognised for her tireless efforts to grow cricket in the Pilbara when she took home one of the sport’s top awards in the State.

Christy Reed was awarded the WA Country Cricket Awards Volunteer of the Year — Female last week for her long years helping to develop the West Pilbara Cricket League.

Ms Reed serves as secretary for the Pilbara Regional Cricket Board and West Pilbara Junior Cricket and said she was chuffed and humbled to win the award.

During her time at the WPCA, Ms Reed has implemented live scoring for all junior games and co-ordinated the junior country week and travelled down to Perth as the team manager and scorer.

Ms Reed was also an inaugural member of the female team to win the Desert Rose Cup and provided administration and helps to organise equipment and uniforms for the female side. “Recognition is nice but it’s not why I do it, I have a major passion for cricket, I love it,” she said.

Ms Reed got involved with regional cricket when her children started to play cricket and kept involved after they went to boarding school.

She thought the female participation and the increase in junior players in the West Pilbara were the main reasons she won the award.

“I was nominated from two different avenues, someone nominated me from women’s cricket for helping to get that up and running and someone from junior cricket nominated me as well,” she said.

Western Australian Cricket Association North West regional manager Andrew Hayes said Ms Reed lived and breathed cricket.

“Christy is always open to new ideas and is prepared to challenge the status quo to achieve great outcomes for the kids playing cricket in Karratha,” he said.

“She has a “can do” attitude and can be relied upon to complete tasks quickly and without a fuss and is an extremely valued volunteer in the West Pilbara, despite her son no longer playing cricket in West Pilbara.”

The presentations were scheduled to be held in Perth last Tuesday but had to be cancelled because of coronavirus concerns.