Eltham High School’s lone female player Rashada Williams is all set for the big stage as she is now getting ready to attend trials for Jamaica’s women’s cricket team having completed a long season for her alma mater.

If successful in her pursuit of greatness, the 17-year-old will join ICC Women’s cricketer of the year Stephanie Taylor as another female representative who attended Eltham High school to make it to that level.

  Williams, who has been a part of the school’s set-up for five years, expressed her disappointment about not being allowed to play in a few competitions.

“I started taking the game serious from I was in first form (grade seven),” she said. “It was very intense as it wasn’t easy being the only female in the team because I had to keep my game up to the level of the guys and I will be continuing on the same level when I attend trials for the national women’s team.

“I really feel disappointed, because this year being my last year, I really wanted to perform in the Grace Shield and other competitions because I wanted to be a part of the team,” added the composed young woman.

She was, however, featured in the recently concluded Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Twenty20 competition, where she was a part of the squad that defeated St Jago by five wickets to advance to the semi-final. She came in at number 11 in the 69-run semi-final loss to Vere Technical and opted to do wicket-keeping duties in the third-place play-off against Manchester.

“The team performance overall could have been much better, but then again the guys they never wanted it; they weren’t hungry for it, they just came out here and went through the paces. I think I could have made a difference because most of the times our spinners have to be rotating as wicketkeeper and so they didn’t get a chance to do what they wanted to with the ball, so if I was given more play time maybe I could change that,” she told the Jamaica Observer after her team’s third-place play-off match against Manchester on Saturday.

She went on to add that in furthering her education at the sixth form level, she is not sure if she wants to represent the school any further, but is sure to continue her development as she would like to emulate or even surpass Stephanie Taylor.

Going forward, the aspirant outlined that she will be putting in the hard work as she wants to raise the level of her game in all areas as her aim is to represent Jamaica and by extension West Indies.

Coach Oral Simpson spoke highly of the passionate cricketer and expressed confidence that she has what it takes to move to the next level.

“Rashada has been doing well. As our lone female player she works just as hard as the boys, and I think she will do well overall. She is now preparing to go to the national trials, and if she continues to work as hard as I know she can, then she will be a part of that team.

“She played in most games, but she wicketkeep for us today (Saturday) against Manchester, because our wicketkeeper wasn’t here and I think that speaks volume    of her game as an all rounder,” Simpson explained.