Dean to make Cricket Fiji history

It's one small step for the men, but one giant leap for Fiji women's cricket.

National woman's vice captain Alicia Dean will strap on the wicket keeping pads for Elite Player League team the Lau Voyagers in Lautoka tomorrow in a first for the competition.

The 23-year-old who is normally based in Adelaide and plays for the South Australia women's team, has been in Fiji on holidays this month and has been training with the national men's team for the last two weeks.

When regular Lau keeper Omid Saberi was ruled out of tomorrow's games due to work commitments and substitute Cakacaka Veritaki unable to come in from Lakeba, high performance manager Steve Jenkin elected to substitute them with Dean.

"The Elite Player League is for elite players, whether they're male or female. We just felt with Alicia in the country and training with men, she was showing enough to compete," Jenkin said.

"With the standard she has shown for South Australia and as a former Australian youth player, we felt she could fill the position as well we could expect.

"It also gives us the opportunity to show Fiji Cricket and those who support it, the standard of Fiji women's cricket."

For Dean it is the ultimate chance to test herself.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how I fair up against the best male players in the country," she said.

"I've been training with the boys for the last couple of weeks and they have really welcomed me into the fold, so I'm sure the Lau boys will look after me."

Dean's Lau team are guaranteed a berth in tomorrow afternoon's EPL final in Lautoka where they will meet either the Western Bulldogs or Suva Capitals pending results tomorrow morning.

Another player will also be making his debut EPL appearance, with University of Fiji Medical School student Eroni Nawalu also called in to play.

Nawalu, 21, has only been playing cricket for nine months and is a product of Cricket Fiji's tertiary competition, and selectors saw enough talent to warrant a call-up into the elite competition.

10am: Lau Voyagers v Western Bulldogs (Central College Lautoka), Suva Capitals v Sigatoka Dunes (Namaka Public School). Finals (2pm approx): 1 v 2 (Central College Lautoka), 3 v 4 (Namaka Public School)