TESS Craven was missing her cricket.

The Ashes was underway and she was feeling that old itch, having played for Drysdale for around eight years in both boys and girls teams prior to being drafted to North Melbourne.

She searched for her local competition, shot off a few emails, and joined up with East Malvern-Tooronga halfway through its T20 season, playing in the Cricket Southern Bayside league.

It was a very decent season for the Titans, making the grand final against Bentleigh, but they fell well short in the decider.

Craven took an absolutely stunning one-handed catch at backward point as the game meandered to a fairly inevitable conclusion, half-heartedly celebrating the effort with teammates given the Bentleigh batter was attempting to score the winning runs when she was caught, with plenty of wickets still in hand.

The catch was caught on video, and given her profile, was blasted through the PlayCricket Instagram account, in a collaboration with both North Melbourne's men's and women's accounts.

The problem was, Craven hadn't told anyone at the Roos she was playing cricket over the off-season.

Teammate Jasmine Ferguson infamously tried to play netball under the radar for her old local club a few years prior, but had to 'fess up when she broke her finger and needed surgery.

And now, Craven's (impressive) exploits were being blasted across sports social media.

"This is where your piece might be in trouble, because I didn't tell anyone, I kind of just…did it," Craven told AFL.com.au with a laugh (in a chat that had been pitched to the club's media manager as being about her cricket, it should be said).

"I didn't really know they were going to post that video. It had been briefly mentioned, and I laughed it off.

"Then it was on Instagram, and then North had collaborated (shared to followers) and I was like 'okay, perfect, this is common knowledge now'.

"'Crock' (coach Darren Crocker) actually came up to me at training and was like, 'how's that catch?' So he didn't seem bothered. So, full honesty, no, I didn't say anything to the club before playing."

Craven has given bowling away since she last played in juniors, given the strain it can place on bodies, but turned in a handy six games at No.4 and No.5 in the batting order, recording 140 runs at an average of 70.

"I had an absolute blast. Not knocking the competition at all, but it's not so serious (as AFLW), it's social sport. You meet people who have played cricket all their lives, and you meet people who are just trying a sport for the first time," Craven said.

"It's a really refreshing perspective of sport that you don't get in some sense when it's your job and you're a professional. It's social, fun, care-free, relaxed and there's no pressure. If you don't perform well, it's no big deal. We're just trying to work together for a collective goal and to have a bit of fun and meet new people.

"I didn't know anyone in the team, just walked in and said, 'hello, I'm here to play some cricket'. I love footy and I always have, and it's such a big part of my life, and I'm grateful for that, but it can be all-consuming. 

"But a big part of why I've always been into sport is the social outlet, and that was trying to regain, the different perspective. Going in on my own forced me to engage with the group a bit more and put myself out of my comfort zone."