RISING star in the indoor cricket world, Kara Toleman has been selected for the England ladies' team.And Kara, 18, said she had the time of her life at the World Indoor Cricket Championship, despite her team losing every game they played.
RISING star in the indoor cricket world, Kara Toleman has been selected for the England ladies' team.
And Kara, 18, said she had the time of her life at the World Indoor Cricket Championship, despite her team losing every game they played.
Kara, from Brantham, discovered the outdoor game at 13 while she was at Manningtree High School.
She lived in South Africa until the age of 11, where her family were hit by tragedy in 2003 when her father Gary was shot and killed by robbers at a petrol station.
Last year she was approached by the British Indoor Cricket Association team, the Southern Misfits, who asked if she would like to play for their ladies' team.
After defeating a Welsh national team in their first ever game last October, Kara's skills on the field attracted the attention of club bosses who asked her to try out for the national team.
Kara said: “I went down to Bristol for training and did not think I had done very well at first.
“I did not expect to hear back from them.”
But in April she received the call she had not been expecting, asking her to come back and train with the fledgling England under-19s ladies' team. After two weeks she was told she had made the team, and they began training in earnest for their debut at the indoor cricket world cup, held in Bristol in September.
Kara said: “I had the time of my life - I loved every minute of it and made some great friends.
“We were a new team - we had not played together in a tournament before, and we were up against the Australian and South African teams which have been together for years.”
Despite a brave performance they lost three games to both of the competing sides, but Kara has not let that dampen her enthusiasm for the game and is now focused on preparing for the British open championships, held in November at Derby.
She said: “For a newly-formed team I think we did very well considering the standard of the competition.
“The team is being kept together for the British open, to give us more experience playing together.”
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