Katie Letcher is now helping young female cricketers follow the same path she took

Letcher is in Dubbo this week to coach the under 15s Country Lions side in the NSW State Challenge at Victoria Park, just months after leaving the female pathway herself as a player.

Originally from Broken Hill, Letcher played the bulk of her club cricket for Orange City before eventually moving down to Sydney where she has linked up with Manly in the NSW Women's Cricket competition.

A wicketkeeper by trade, Letcher is hoping she can impart some of her wisdom onto the next generation of players only months after playing for the ACT/NSW Country under 19s.

"It's my first sort of rep carnival at this level so it is pretty exciting, it's good to have a Country team to be in charge of," she said.

"I think it is a really good opportunity for these girls to showcase their skills because they don't get to play in Premier Cricket.

"It is an important carnival for them and I think there is a lot of talent in the country, this is just a way selectors can see what these girls can do."

Letcher is one of several Western cricketers to have come through the female pathway system and go on to play in Sydney, following in the footsteps of players like Dubbo's Emma Hughes and Orange's Pheobe Litchfield.

READ ALSO:

After seeing first-hand just how successful the pathway can be, Letcher is hoping she can continue to help mentor and coach young female cricketers from the country going forward.

"I've played in a handful, I've literally just come out of the pathway as a player and now have gone into coaching," she said.

"It's something I enjoy doing coaching, I also really enjoyed playing in these carnivals. I'm glad these girls are getting the same opportunities that I had.

"They are a really good chance to play cricket, meet other people and obviously get an opportunity to represent country at a higher level."

Letcher's Lions side took on the Metro Sharks in their first game on Tuesday, finishing with a tough loss but the coach believes there will be a lot of positives to take out of the week regardless of results.

"Metro at this age group are usually pretty strong just because they play a lot more cricket than the country girls do," she said.

"It's good to test them against the better teams but in saying that there is a definitely talent in the country, it just needs to be found and developed."

The under 15 female carnival will finish on Thursday but both country-based sides will be in action on Wednesday at No.1 Oval, playing in a day/night fixture beginning at 3pm.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: