The 24-year-old will be part of Belmont's side playing in the rapidly growing Newcastle District Cricket Association's women's league.

The Seagulls are one of five new clubs in the third instalment of the T20 competition, which has expanded from five to nine teams this summer.

Charlestown, Warners Bay, Hamilton-Wickham and a second Wests team to be known as the Rosellas are also newcomers.

Round one was played on Wednesday night with Waratah-Mayfield (1/36) producing a convincing nine-wicket win over back-to-back champions Newcastle City (35) in a grand final rematch at Learmonth Park.

Charlestown (1/47) defeated Warners Bay (45) and Merewether (5/125) beat Wests (6/94).

Belmont's opening match against Hamilton-Wickham was postponed until next month as several Seagulls players live on the Central Coast and could not travel to Newcastle this week due to coronavirus-related restrictions.

"I've played on and off for 10 or 11 years but never in the Newcastle competition before, so, this will be an exciting step for me," O'Brien-Smith, who played all of her junior cricket in a boys' competition in Queensland, told the Newcastle Herald.

"It's a nice an opportunity to play with people I've played with before and to play for a new club. The women who are coming up from the Central Coast have a little bit of experience playing cricket and were keen to play up here to gain some more. There are also a number of younger girls from the Lake Macquarie area and it's their first experience to women's cricket as a full competition.

"I'm excited to be part of a new club. Belmont have some juniors who have come through and would normally be playing in the boys' competition but as they're getting a bit older they're just really keen to play proper women's cricket and get a bit more experience, so it will be a nice mix."

The right-arm medium pace bowler is hoping the team can get together next week when travel restrictions are lifted before their first game against Charlestown.

O'Brien-Smith, who works casually for Cricket NSW running after-school programs and is also doing her PhD in sport science, has previously played for Northern Districts in the Sydney women's competition.

"For me, I'm just really passionate about women's cricket, so, it's super exciting that we are getting such a strong competition together," she said.

"As a team, we don't really have any goals other than to go out there and have a good time, put up a good fight, take a few wickets, score a few runs.

"I think it's going to be quite a strong competition, which is super exciting for the region. So many of the women and girls from here still travel to Sydney to get good competition, which is a hell of an effort, especially when you finish high school and you want to keep playing.

"To have a competition is going to be really good for female cricket development in the region."

Charlestown bowled Warners Bay out for 45 in 17.1 overs and dropped just one wicket on the way to reaching the total in six overs at Kahibah Oval on Wednesday night. Opener Tina Walker led the way, scoring 21 runs off 24 balls. She also took 2-3 off 2.1 overs.

Waratah-Mayfield rolled City for 35 in 15.4 overs and also only dropped one wicket on the way to victory in 4.5 overs. Opener Tayla Braithwaite topscored with 17 before being caught and bowled.

Opening batter Lauren Lennox belted 54 off 44 balls to set up Merewether's 31-run win over Wests at Townson Oval. Cassandra Koppen added 22 as the Lions reached 5/125 in their 20 overs. Wests were 6/94 off 20 overs in reply.

It is Merewether's second year in the competition and the second summer of cricket for Koppen, who comes from a football and softball background.

"We're still trying to develop our skills, so, having the opportunity to play more games this year is going to be really beneficial for that," Koppen said.

"Last year was so short it was hard to get a true experience of cricket and learn the rules and how to play at the same time. The extra games will make a big difference because there's nothing like playing games for gaining experience.

"We're just trying to have fun and get girls playing cricket and trying to develop our skills."

The women's competition is being played midweek over seven rounds with a final scheduled for December 15.

For the first time there will be prizemoney for the women's league. The NDCA men's T20 Summer Bash has a combined prize pool of $5000.

Eight Recruitment have put up $1000 in prizemoney for the women, which is expected to be split between the two finalists.

Eight Recruitment managing director Nadene Barretto is passionate about supporting women's sport and hoped other businesses would follow suit.

"A couple of years ago, we matched the prizemoney in a sevens rugby tournament where the men were getting $5000 and the women $1500," Barretto said.

"We have been sponsoring Newcastle City Cricket Club for the past few years and this year we spitballed the idea to come up with some sponsorship for the women's competition.

"I have three children, two girls and a boy. My girls are 14 and 16 and there is a huge drop-out at that age. My girls still play sport and what it has done for them is amazing ... we need to be supporting women's sport at grassroots level."

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