Madison Malcolm, Katie Martin, Georgia Lovegrove, Neve Smart, and Anna Duncan were named in the Under 13s side, which will compete in the upcoming Mollie Dive Shield.

Meanwhile, Molly Lynch and Emily Zerafa were named in the Under 15s outfit to play in the Margaret Peden Shield.

Both competitions will get underway this Sunday, January 30, with Shoalhaven District Cricket Association coach Andrew Malcolm set to take charge of the GICZ Under 13s.

The seven girls named have all impressed with their performances of late, and Malcolm was unsurprised to see the local competition so strongly represented.

"We've been developing the girls for a couple of years now," Malcolm said.

"Last year we dipped our toe into representative cricket with them. Five of the girls made the Under 13s and one in the Under 15s, and we added one player this year.

"We fully expected to get some good results in terms of numbers of selected players."

Both competitions will play six rounds between January 30 and March 6. The Under 13s will play against Bankstown this weekend to start their competition, while the Under 15s will face off against the ACT.

Though Malcolm said it is hard to know what to expect from any of the teams in either draw, he knows it will be a high-quality tournament.

"At that age group [the Under 13s], they're all just starting off," he said.

"Bankstown finished below us last year on the ladder, so it's a bit hard to say what we expect. I know the strong associations are typically Sutherland and Parramatta, and Manly are also pretty strong. Then you've got ACT, Newcastle, and the Central Coast who usually go pretty well."

Though the teams will obviously hope to win their competitions, the trick to coaching youth-age sides - especially the younger divisions such as Under 13s - is to aim for a balance between results and development.

Such young cricketers are years away from achieving their full potential, and Malcolm knows that early representative tournaments like this can provide invaluable experience.

"It is a fine balance between performance and development," Malcolm said.

"The 13s in particular is very much a development age group, so what we're doing is giving them that taste of rep cricket, so they can play against a lot of good cricketers. It is a couple of steps above their club cricket.

"Some of the goals in terms of what we want them to get out of the season is those little one-percenters."

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