Melbourne Stars WBBL skipper Nicole Faltum earned her stripes in Moe and Trafalgar

“Just say your name and title,’’ the reporter asked.

“Nicole Faltum, captain and wicketkeeper of the Melbourne Stars,’’ came the reply.

“God that sounds so weird!’’

The previous day the Stars had announced that with the great Meg Lanning taking a break from cricket, Faltum, 22, would be leading them in WBBL 08.

Now she was back home, in central Gippsland, at Ted Summerton Reserve in Moe, for a media call to promote the Stars and two matches to be staged at the ground in November.

Around her were youngsters who had walked down from neighbouring Moe South Primary School for a bat and a bowl and a photo opportunity with a cricketer the La Trobe City mayor Kellie O’Callaghan called “a real champion in the local community’’.

Teacher John Duck was with the students.

“That’s Mr Duck!’’ Faltum said when she saw him approaching.

He has a surname that cricketers always want to avoid, but she was pleased to see him. It turned out Mr Duck had taught her at Trafalgar Primary School.

“I’m thinking it’s maybe 12, 15 years since I’ve seen her,’’ he said as the TV cameras were being set up.

“She’s held in high esteem up here. I think everyone has enjoyed watching her progress in her cricket. It’s sensational. Whenever any local product does that, it creates a lot of pride around the place. She’s a great role model for these kids. They see what’s possible.’’

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There was a simple reason she took up wicketkeeping. She tried bowling and thought she didn’t do it very well.

She pursued other sports too, “loads of it’’, she says.

“I was one of those kids that, any chance I could get to play sport, I literally did everything under the sun,’’ Faltum says.

She won a state medal in taekwondo and captained the Victorian Country under 13 soccer team in the national youth championships. Faltum was the goalkeeper.

Eventually she had to make a choice between goalkeeping and wicketkeeping. Cricket won out.

Faltum advanced from Gippsland to Victorian under-age teams, and joined the nearest Victorian Premier club, Dandenong.

At that time, Dandenong was dense with female talent from the Gippsland region: Kelly Applebee and Emma ‘Gags’ Gallagher from Bruthen, Sophie Molineux from Bairnsdale, Chelsea Moscript from Leongatha, Cassie Pollock and Laura Croft from Warragul, Hayleigh Brennan from Maffra and Erica Kershaw from Traralgon.

Faltum made her debut against Box Hill in Round 1 of the 2015-16 season, a match in which Molineux, at age 17, hit her first century in Premier Cricket.

Two years later, Faltum was picked for her first match for Victoria, while she was still part of the state under 19s.

She was also 17 when she played her first game in green, for the Melbourne Stars.

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Adam Crosthwaite says Nicole Faltum made a sound call to keep wickets and not keep bowling with the Traf juniors.

The former Sheffield Shield gloveman is a part-time coach with the Victorian women’s squad.

He says Faltum is one of Australian cricket’s best prospects.

“Her glovework is exceptional and now people are starting to see how good her batting is,’’ Crosthwaite says.

“I think she’s an outstanding cricketer, someone who cares about her craft. Put it this way, there’s no one in the WNCL who I can see is as good as her. She’s got the work ethic, she’s definitely got the skill and now she’s taking on leadership.’’

He says Faltum’s keeping is “as good as anyone going around, men’s cricket or women’s cricket’’.

“If we go deep with it, her technique is extremely good. She works on her rhythm, and her rhythm is repeatable, which is what you need as a wicketkeeper. She’s probably found it in the past six to 12 months.’’

In last week’s WNCL games against Tasmania, Crosthwaite says, Faltum pulled off a leg-side stumping and took an up-to-the-stumps catch that marked her out as “very, very good’’.

Quite a few years earlier Nathan Pilon saw Faltum’s skill behind the stumps.

The ex-NSW and Victorian wicketkeeper did some coaching for Cricket Victoria’s “diamonds in the rough program’’ in regional Victoria and came across the schoolgirl from Moe.

He recalls her keeping as being “outstanding’’.

“She turned some heads there,’’ Pilon says.

“With the drills that I do, she picked them up very quickly and was very coachable. Great, soft hands, good technique, a good kid too. She’s one I thought would go well.’’

While Faltum’s glovework was at a standard high enough to impress former state players, her batting has been more of a work in progress.

The potential has always been there, Emma Gallagher says, but perhaps not the confidence.

In the past two years it has come with greater strength and guidance from coaches like former Sri Lankan Test player Dulip Samaraweera, an assistant with the Victorian women.

“She’s never been a blast-away type of batter, more of a technical batter,’’ Gallagher notes.

“It’s been good to see her add some power to her game and build some innings.’’

Last season Faltum hit her first half-century in the WNCL, 88 off 83 balls against NSW. She finished the series with 189 runs at 31.50.

In August she hit her first century, 102, for the Victorian Emerging Players against NSW in Coffs Harbour.

The right-hander has made a bright start to 2022-23, scoring 61 in a WNCL match against Tasmania and 62 for Dandenong in a Twenty20 against Prahran.

“When I first came into the squad I was literally just a keeper who basically knew how to hold a bat,’’ Faltum says.

“I’ve been exposed to it a lot more since then.

“I’ve done loads of work on knowing my role and what that actually looks like, and just tried to develop my game on what I already have, rather than reinventing the wheel.’’

Faltum has captained Dandy for two years, leading them to the premiership in 2020-21.

Further captaincy experience came last season with the Victorian team, when she covered for the absence of Lanning and did an excellent job, according to Victorian high performance manager Dean Russ.

“She’s a bubbly personality around the group. A lot of the players seem to gravitate towards her,’’ Russ says.

“She’s such a good egg, really good fun, positive, an energy-giver.’’

Just as Gippsland people are chuffed at Faltum’s rise, Dandenong players and officials are thrilled their captain has joined Premier teammate Molineux as a WBBL captain.

“She’s such a hard worker,’’ Dandenong stalwart Gallagher says of Faltum.

“Aside from her being a really good person, it was one of the things that struck me about her early on. You saw the positive attitude she had from a very young age and the willingness to put in the work. She’s always doing everything she’s asked to do, and then more. She’s one of those people who you can’t help but want to see succeed.’’

Because of Covid, the Melbourne Stars have not played a WBBL match in Victoria for three years.

Faltum says that’s one of the things she’s most looking forward to in 2022-23, getting back in front of home crowds and family and friends.

“I’m super-excited, to be honest. I mean, it’s such an exciting role and to be able to lead this young group and some really big talents, I’m stoked about it,’’ she says.

The Stars‘ final two home-and-away matches will be played at Moe on November 19 and 20.

The mayor says the locals will come from everywhere to watch the local girl lead out her team.

Hopefully by then the words “Nicole Faltum, captain and wicketkeeper of the Melbourne Stars’’ won’t sound so weird to the young skipper.