THE Hawkesbury’s Hayley Silver-Holmes has a genuine passion for cricket, which is seeing her rise through the ranks to the point where she could be the next big cricketer from our region.
Silver-Homes is from Bowen Mountain and is only 14, but even at her young age, she has shown plenty of ability with both bat and ball.
She loves cricket. The teenager told the Gazette that in her opinion, there is no such thing as too much cricket.
Luckily, for someone who has her sights set on becoming a fully fledged professional, her devotion to the game is helpful.
“I go to all the games. I go to both the men’s and women’s game. I am a member of the Thunder men's team and I got to the Women’s Big Bash League and the Ashes,” she said.
“I went to the women’s Ashes at North Sydney Oval, and I will probably go to the men’s as well.”
Silver-Holmes started her junior career at Castle Hill, because there was no all girls team for her to play in at Hawkesbury.
She has since spent the past three seasons playing with Parramatta, and last year started at Hills Sports High School.
The latest milestone for Silver-Holmes was being signed to a rookie contract with the Sydney Thunder late last year.
Silver-Holmes was picked after her performance at the Cricket Australia Under 18 National Championships in Canberra in December.
“It was a very exciting time. I'm only 14 and it is going to be a great experience with all the girls,” she said.
The rookie contract means a few things. She trains with the Sydney Thunder women at times, warms up with them on game day, runs drinks out on game day and is in the changing rooms after matches to soak up the atmosphere.
The Sydney Thunder women already boast the Hawkesbury’s Naomi Stalenberg in their ranks, and Silver-Holmes said Stalenberg had gone out of her way to help her.
“She helped me a lot last year with cricket and she is a just a great person to be around,” she said of Stalenberg.
“She is always happy and helping people and she is somebody I look up to.”
At this stage of the teenager’s career, she is a genuine all-rounder, batting at number three and opening the bowling, but was not always so gifted.
“When I first started I wasn't the best. But I worked really hard and on my fitness and skill level,” she said.
Silver-Holmes said she works hard at training, and even does plenty of work away from the nets and field to improve herself, and makes sure to listen to what her coaches say.
A love of the game drives her, but so does her dad, Jason Holmes, who not only makes sure she gets to training and her games, but also to any of the myriad of cricket matches going on over the summer.
“Living in Bowen Mountain, if dad wasn't here I wouldn't be getting to most of my training,” she said.
“He is really good with me, he takes me to the Sydney Cricket Ground, to Blacktown, he drives me everywhere.”
On January 28, she will participate in an exhibition match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with the other young cricketers signed to rookie contracts across the WBBL.
