One of Australia’s brightest young bowling prospects will get her chance to shine at the under-19 World Cup.
Jasmine Kamboj, who has played with Melton Centrals and Sydenham-Hillside, is part of the Australian team that has recently headed to Sri Lanka for the event.
Kamboj said it was pretty exciting to be named in the Australian team for the first time.
“There’s excitement and a little bit of surprise,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be picked this early.
“It’s a great opportunity.
“This series I’m expecting to play in a few games and show my skills. It’s a great opportunity to be in the Australian squad,”
The Australian team was picked following the under-16 national championships before a Cricket Australia series which pitted the best in the country against each other.
The Perry-Lanning series is the first step in getting to the World Cup, with 15 players picked from there.
“It was a good experience being around a lot of new people,” Kamboj said. “From all these different states and having these games against us.”
Kamboj has grown up playing cricket having followed her brother into the sport.
She played a number of years at Sydenham-Hillside before a season with Melton Centrals
Kamboj last season also made the move to Victorian Premier Cricket, playing with Carlton.
“I had my first season at premier last season, playing premier 2s and premier 3s,” she said. “Hopefully I’ll get some games in prem ones this year.
“It would be the highest level in Victoria which is amazing.
“The people at Carlton are really good and supportive. Just going with those people, it was great.”
Kamboj said she’d been happy with her progress so far and her cricket career had gone quite fast.
The 15-year-old is already bowling at 115 kilometres per hour, faster than what most female bowlers ever get.
The fastest ever speed by a female is 132.1 kilometres per hour
While she’s known as a fast bowler, Kamboj is also a handy lower order bat who can hit the ball out of the park.
She already has a 100 in the books.
Helping her career has been going to Maribyrnong Sports Academy.
The Hillside resident said the school gives her a lot of support.
“It has helped a lot honesty, done a lot of strength and conditioning it has it own high performance coaching there as well.”
Kamboj said she was keen to get as high as she could with her cricket.
“I want to keep working to get higher.”
Tara Murray
