Mandurah cricket prodigy Georgia Wyllie eyes national tournament

The 15-year-old was recently selected to WA’s initial under 18 squad and has one more cut to survive to be chosen as part of the traveling team, which will fly out for 10 games played across 12 days in Canberra and New South Wales.

Georgia said while the selection process was a shade nerve-wracking, she was thrilled upon finding out she had made the initial team.

“They send you an email and I was just ecstatic,” she said.

“You get a bit nervous as the cuts go on and on so to make the initial squad was a pretty big relief.”

The left-arm bowler has represented WA in the under 15s in the previous two years, and is looking to make the leap and face more seasoned cricketers this time around.

Her surname is synonymous with cricket in the Peel region, particularly at the Mandurah Cricket Club, where the grandstand is named after her father John.

The Peel Cricket Association’s A-grade trophy, the Wyllie Cup, also honours her father, along with her uncle Peter.

Outside of fierce backyard games against her family, Georgia began her cricketing life playing in the under 10s boys competition with Mandurah.

She played there until she reached under 12s, at which point she was invited to join South Perth Junior Cricket Club.

Now, Georgia is a regular on WA’s representative teams, with her ultimate goal to one day represent Australia on the international stage.

“Every girl playing cricket wants to play for their country, so that’s obviously where I’d like to end up,” she said.

“I enjoy the longer forms of the game so to play test cricket for Australia one day would be a dream come true.

“But to play for the [Western] Fury and keep representing my state is a start, so first of all I’d just like to make WA’s under 18’s side.

“I’m taking little steps but really I just love the game.”

The up and comer trains roughly 10 hours a week, including several trips to Perth for WACA training.

She is also mentored personally by Evolution Cricket’s Brendon Diamanti and Cricket Mentoring’s Tom Scollay.

Georgia is the youngest member of WA’s initial under 18s side, but isn’t backing down from the thought of facing older opponents.

“I’m a little nervous about it, but it will be a good step for me to get more experience,” she said.

Georgia finds out if she’s made WA’s traveling team in the coming weeks.