What started as simply a passion for the sport culminated two weeks ago with a place in the tournament-winning Victorian Country team at the Australian Country Championships.

At 19-years-of-age Habel said she might have already experienced the highlight of her career by winning the Country Championships.

“It was the most amazing experience. Just incredible,” she said. 

“It was a once in a lifetime experience. Well hopefully not, hopefully we’ll be back next year and the year after. But it was certainly an incredible experience.” 

Before Anna reached such incredible heights, her cricket career started out in her home town of Boolite.

She had barely played a proper game of cricket before she was granted an opportunity that made her discover a passion for the sport.

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“I probably started like most, just playing backyard cricket with the family,” she said. “I didn’t get to play any full games of cricket, I didn’t really have that in our area.

“But when I was 12 I had the opportunity to try out for the girls Victorian team.

“I was selected as a wildcard pretty much just to see how I’d go. It turned out really well.

“That started it off. I had a really good coach and I just fell in love with the game. I decided it was something worth playing.

“I was pretty lucky. It is such a great game you get as an individual and to be a part of the team. I fell in love with it right from the start.”

From there Anna displayed not just an exceptional natural talent but also a great attitude toward the sport.

Opportunities for her to continue her growth within the game started to arrive.

Habel played in the region’s representative team the Western Waves for a number of years and also moved to Ballarat for her final years of secondary school where she started playing with the school’s girls team.

“I think I fell in love with it and I was just determined to keep advancing,” Habel said.

“I was really lucky with a couple of different paths that gave me the opportunity to advance my game and play with a bunch of great girls.”

Habel also showed her leadership capabilities, captaining the Western Waves team for one year and captaining her school side to consecutive victories.

“I was captain of the school team there and we won the championships both years,” she said. “That was great.

“I was captain of the Western Waves for one year which was a really valuable experience. You take on a different role on the team and you get looked to for expertise and things like that.”

But while representative and school cricket was giving her the opportunity to play with and against girls of her age, club cricket offered something a little bit different. 

Habel started playing men’s cricket in the Wimmera-Mallee Cricket Association for St Mary’s when she was 14, and has continued playing in the league with Brim-Kellalac-Sheep Hills.

She said playing in the men’s competition was a different experience.

“It was a bit nerve racking to play with men for the first time,” she said. “But they were all super excited to see a girl in the team and they were really supportive.

“I think some of the other teams were a bit surprised when I came on to bowl. They might have been a bit worried getting bowled out by a girl, but once they realised it was a girl on the team they quickly realised it was just another player.”

Habel was also granted the rare opportunity to play overseas. She was involved in the Cricket Without Borders program when she was 15 that took her to Japan to play against several teams from all across Asia.

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Habel also travelled to Europe during her gap year after year 12, and curiously found cricket in a place where not many would bother looking. 

“I’ve got family in Denmark so I was staying with them,” Habel explained. “I was overseas for about seven and a half months, and I was really missing the game. 

“I’ve never heard of Denmark playing cricket but I searched it up and found a team that was really close to where I live.”

To be missing cricket so much in just seven months shows just how passionate Habel is about her cricket.

And exceptionally, she found the standard of cricket in Denmark surprisingly impressive.

“It was really fantastic because all the people that played over there were from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan,” Habel said.

“It was a bit surprising but it was a really high level of cricket I was getting into because they all had this strong cricket background.

“Everyone that came were really excited and passionate to play a few games.

“They got a coach from Pakistan who had been coaching and playing in Pakistan, England, New Zealand and Australia, so it was fantastic to have him aboard and pass on his knowledge to the team. 

“We played a few matches against the Copenhagen team and around the country .There weren’t too many teams in the tournament but it was really fantastic.

“It was a really valuable experience.”

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Looking back on her young career that has been littered with so many fantastic opportunities, Habel said she was lucky to grow up in time when women’s sport is growing more and more.

She is moving to Melbourne for study next year and said she hopes to keep playing cricket for as long as she can.

“It’s sort of if you don’t want to play with the men’s there’s not many options around this area,” she said.

“But if you have a love for the game you’ll find a way to keep playing somehow.

“It is really great to see the rise of women’s cricket a bit more now.

“With things like the Women’s Big Bash League season being televised there are more girls seeing that and thinking they can play cricket. 

“Especially in the Wimmera-Mallee region there are a few girls I know from Western Waves and other programs that are coming up and are sticking with their cricket. It’s become a good community.”