Saturday will pit the boys against the girls in the annual Guilford Grammar School versus Western Fury one-day challenge, and on Sunday, the five women's District club teams – Melville, Subiaco Marist, Rockingham-Mandurah, Midland-Guildford and South Perth - will host a Charity Shield Event for WACA Charity Partner Variety at Melville's Tompkins Park.

 

Saturday's match will commence at 9.30am at Guildford Grammar's Roberts Oval and promises to be a colourful spectacle with entertaining skills and of course male versus female rivalry. Presentations are scheduled for 5pm and funds raised will be donated to the MS Society of WA.

 

Sunday's Charity Shield will be a Super 8s format whereby each side has eight players, an over constitutes eight balls and a player who hits a ball over the boundary on the full will be awarded eight runs instead of the traditional six.

 

Each team will play three matches, with an eliminator to be staged in the event of a tie. The Under 18 competition will get underway at 9.30am and the A and B Grades will be played between 1.30 and 4.45pm.

 

WACA Female Cricket Coordinator and Western Fury wicket-keeper Jenny Wallace said the carnival is all about enjoying the cricket and getting involved in the club community.

 

“It's brilliant that all clubs will be involved in the event and we're very fortunate that Melville have agreed to host the day,” Wallace said.

 

“The juniors will compete in the morning and the seniors will play – using all five pitches – in the afternoon.

 

“The atmosphere and sense of community the Charity Shield Event will generate will be such a great pre-cursor to the club season which officially starts the following week.”

 

The retirement of several big-name players from the Western Fury has paved the way for the early rise of some talented young guns and Head Coach Steve Philippe said he was looking forward to seeing the new-look team develop over the summer.

 

“It is a bit of a rebuilding year for us, but having said that the players have trained very well as a unit throughout the pre-season and the leadership group has made it very clear that they expect an improvement on last season's third placing in the WNCL,” Philippe said.

 

“This weekend's hit-out against Guildford will give us a chance to put that pre-season training into practice before the serious stuff begins.”

 

The Western Fury will start their bid for a place in the Grand Final of the 2009-10 WNCL competition with a triple header against Victoria Spirit at the end of the month.

 

The teams will clash at James Oval on Friday 30 October in a WNCL Twenty20 competition, before moving into two WNCL one-day matches at the WACA Ground on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November.