If you have any prior knowledge about women’s cricket in Croatia, you have probably met or at least heard about Ivana and Pavla. These two girls have been a part of our national women’s team from the start and are responsible for setting up the first women’s club in Croatia, CC Zagreb Jinx.
CCF: How did two local Croatian girls end up playing cricket?
Ivana: After long persuasion by Vedran, the vice president of CCF, I finally gave in and decided to attend one of the training sessions. Honestly, I thought I would be able to say, “I tried it, I didn’t like it, let’s move on.” However, since Vedran knows me, he knew how to “win me over.” So, in my first training session, I was handed a bat, he showed me the basic grip, and asked me to try to hit the ball!
After a few clumsy swings, I hit the ball correctly ( by accident, of course, she points out with a big smile ), that sound of the bat hitting the ball correctly was enough for me to fall in love with cricket. And so, here I am!
Pavla: Well for me it was actually baseball that I wanted to play. I always liked to run, but just running was not quite fun enough. I was missing something, and baseball seemed like an ideal sport as there was hitting, catching and running. As it is not a popular sport in Croatia there were not many opportunities for it, and being a bit on the lazy side I did not try to find them. When the opportunity presented itself in the form of an Indian best friend, I started to pester her to take me for a cricket game, and finally after 3 years of begging she did. And so, here I am too!
CCF: The pair of you were instrumental in setting up the Zagreb Jinx CC. Tell us a little bit about the idea, your team and plans for the future.
Ivana: After playing our first match for the national team, we realized that there are women’s teams in our neighborhood that we could play against on a regular basis and that they are roughly on the same experience level as us, so rather than waiting for national tourneys, we could contact them as a club and play more matches in various formats. Little by little, we moved towards this goal, and we can finally say that despite the “quick” bureaucracy, we now officially have the first women’s cricket club in Croatia, CC Jinx Zagreb!
What is important to us, and so far we are really fortunate in this aspect, is that we have a team that respects each other, has fun, enjoys playing cricket, and strive to give our best, viewing the team as an extended family. We have many girls who are not born Croats and have moved here recantly, and I hope that we have shown them so far that we care about them not only as teammates but as individuals, and that it is important for us that they feel “at home” – as we would say.
Plans for the future, huh, it’s hard to talk about plans, more about wishes, which are of course to play as many matches as possible and through that learn and progress as much as we can. As for concrete plans, this summer we have, so far, two weekends of matches scheduled to play and are hoping to have a couple more.
Pavla: And for further future plans, we’re striving for team building in India and other great cricketing countries, which will include going to a proper cricket match!
Ivana: We also have to thank the men’s teams of CC Zagreb Assassins and Zagreb Warriors for letting us play and train with them. That is an indispensable part of our growth and development as players, and we are endlessly grateful to them for having us and accepting us, as well as for the time and knowledge they share with us.
CCF: Both of you are also National team members. Try to describe for us the feeling of representing Croatia and wearing the “kockice”?
Pavla: Well, it still feels surreal, me, a national team member. Maybe after we play at the ECC it will start to sink in.Im still too excited.
Ivana: Stressful! ( she laughs ).. But it’s because we are the first women’s cricket team, which means we will be recorded in history and no matter how difficult all beginnings are, we always want to be the best we can be, which puts a certain amount of pressure and stress on a person. Of course, I am proud to wear the “kockice” and feeling both happy and proud of myself because I can be an example for my children and hopefully a role model for future women players.
CCF: What’s next in store for the women’s national team?
Ivana: We are approaching the long-awaited Prague tri nations tournament where we will meet Czech Republic and Gibraltar, but it will also be the first time we’ll be at an official match without one of the coaches who brought us to this point.
Recently, there have been some changes in the team, one of our coaches, Sushant Rana, has left Croatia due to work obligations. He was an important part of our team, contributing to the creation of the entire team. He taught us the basics of cricket on which we continue to build our knowledge, and was a support to all of us both on and off the field.
Additionally, a few players have also moved, although they remain a part of the team and adjust their arrivals to matches, so we have to learn to deal with such changes that will occur in the future.
Pavla: Our captain, Erin, lives and plays in England, and despite the fact that she is only 18 years old, and the youngest girl in the team, she has integrated excellently, and we’re making the best of it by being there for her in anything she might need our help for and she leads us on the sports paths. Perfect symbiosis! She is the future of Croatian cricket and we have faith she will lead us to some great cricketing moments in the future.
Ivana: Despite all the changes, we look forward to every training session, and with joy we watch new members adapt and fall more and more in love with this sport, with each ball thrown, hit or caught. We seize every opportunity for training, both with the coach and on our own. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our coach Vedran, who has to endure all our quirks and navigate the spring changes in our moods while harnessing all our personalities for the team’s benefit.
CCF: Ivana, you also took part in the ICC umpire tutors course. How was that experience and what does it mean to you?
Ivana: ICC umpire tutors course was a course that brought me so much knowledge on rules and regulations and understanding of the game itself and insight into how umpires think. Typically, people in all sports separate referees/umpires and athletes, which is wrong, because they both are vital parts of the sport as a whole. As for the course itself, I was fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful people from all around, who helped me not only in understanding the rules, but also in providing guidance, tips and pointers on what to pay attention to as an umpire, and as a player as well.
Long-term, what this course means for me is that I’ll get to be a part of the cricket game for a long time in one way or another.
On a serious note, what it means to me, since cricket is a new sport in Croatia, is that I can provide support and help for new players to understand rules, regulations and everything crucial for the game!
CCF: How do you attract new members to your club?
Pavla: For now, we mostly benefit from word of mouth, as well as from friends and acquaintances who themselves wanted to be part of the story, or we convinced them to at least come to one training session, and then they liked it and stayed. We always welcome new members, and everyone is welcome. We often advertise ways to contact us through social media networks, and lately we were starting to brainstorm about the option of presenting cricket to schools and universities, as well as holding open days.
CCF: Where do you see women’s cricket in 2 years?
Ivana: Hmm, it’s hard to answer because I have so many desires!
Our current goal is to qualify for the ECC-W 2025 with as many matches behind us as possible and to remain a permanent participant in the ECC-W in the future.
What would make me happy in the next 2 years is the formation of an internal women’s EU league (club cricket), where matches would be held on a regular basis.
Pavla: And on a domestic plan, we’re striving to form at least one more women’s cricket club in Zagreb and at least 2 more in Croatia.
CCF: Favorite cricket memory?
Ivana: Favorite memory, oh, that’s a tough question. Well, every single moment spent learning cricket is beautiful, and there are so many happy memories that I don’t know how to pick a favorite.
Ask me in a month, and hopefully I’ll be able to say our first victory! Says Ivana in her lovely contagious laugh.
Pavla: Going off the field after our first match ever, which was also the first official national team match, to emphasise “FIRST EVER MATCH “ , and which we lost spectacularly, but still all of us were jumping with joy like little kids as we walked out of the field! This moment I will cherish forever.
CCF: Do you have any favourite players?
Ivana: Considering that I’m a beginner in cricket this is also a tough question for me. There are stereotypical answers like Virat Kohli, Ellyse Perry, MS Dhoni and Marizanne Kapp, but also less typical ones like some teammates from both the women’s and men’s teams and coach. Maybe it’s not yet the right time for a proper answer to this question.
Pavla: Since I’m still not watching too many matches and don’t know many players, I’d say my teammates.
Thank you for this talk ladies. We will be watching and cheering you on in your upcoming matches.
Best of luck. You girls are making us all at CCF very proud.