AFTER eight years away from the Women’s National Cricket League, the return of Lisa Griffith to the NSW Breakers’ line-up was certainly a welcomed one.
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It was one which helped the Breakers maintain hopes of defending the national title they won last season.
Griffith first cracked the ranks of the state side in her teens, but as an 18-year-old she reached a point where she needed to step away from the sport.
“I had a little bit of depression and things like that. I decided that I needed to get away from Sydney and away from cricket,” she said of her hiatus.
But after taking a five-year break the Bathurst all-rounder returned to cricket and re-discovered her passion for the sport.
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She skippered the inaugural NSW Country side, last summer made her Women’s Big Bash League debut for Sydney Thunder and on Friday afternoon, lined up for the NSW Breakers for the first time in eight years.
Unfortunately it was not as winning return as NSW fell to Western Australia – she made 28 – but on Sunday Griffith and her team-mates hit back.
They beat Victoria by 71 runs at Blacktown to keep their WNCL title hopes alive.
Opening the batting in the must-win match, Griffith top scored for NSW. Runs were hard to come by early, but she lifted her strike rate with five boundaries for a vital 44 off 82 deliveries.
It helped the Breakers to 8-190 from their 50 overs, Victoria in reply all out for 119.
Griffith returned 0-17 off her four overs, Maisy Gibson doing a bulk of the damage with her spin (4-28 off 10).