Cricket trailblazer Lisa Sthalekar is just the fourth female inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
A four-time World Cup winner as a participant via her 125 One Day Internationals and 54 T20 Internationals for Australia, Sthalekar went on to grow to be one of the strongest advocates for the elevated professionalism of the ladies’s recreation.
Sthalekar has served on the board of the Australian Cricketers’ Affiliation (ACA) and as a director with the Federation of Worldwide Cricketers’ Associations (FICA).
Her championing of the ladies’s trigger is one of the causes Australia’s ladies’s cricketers are the finest paid in the world.
It was her monumental contribution as a participant, advocate and now internationally recognised broadcaster, together with her voice a relentless presence throughout the Australian summer season, that prompted Hall of Fame officers to induct her into the elite group.
“Lisa Sthlalekar comfortably sits at the desk of ladies’s cricket trailblazers alongside Belinda Clark, Karen Rolton and Melanie Jones, and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame is delighted to welcome her as the newest inductee,“ chairman Peter King stated.
“As the Australian ladies’s cricket crew conquers all earlier than them, it has been Lisa’s ardour and ability as a cricketer and her braveness and willpower in her post-cricket profession that has pushed elite requirements of professionalism in the ladies’s recreation.
“She left the sport as a four-time World Cup winner and a plethora of private accolades however has continued to advocate and champion the ladies’s recreation as an administrator, commentator and ambassador.”
Sthalekar’s journey to the elite ranges of cricket is outstanding.
Born in India, in Pune, she was orphaned earlier than being adopted by dad and mom who moved her to the USA, Kenya and eventually Sydney the place her adoptive father, Haren, launched her to the recreation.
She got here via a interval the place enjoying in boys groups was the solely possibility for younger women however quickly proved a standout and rose via the NSW ranks to make her worldwide debut in 2001 in an ODI in opposition to England.
Sthalekar went on to grow to be one of the world’s elite spin bowling all-rounders throughout a 12-year enjoying profession and scored 3913 worldwide runs, together with three centuries. She additionally took 229 wickets
She captained Australia in three ODIs in opposition to New Zealand in 2006, was named Ladies’s Worldwide Cricketer of the 12 months in 2007, was a two-time Belinda Clark medallist and in August final 12 months turned the twenty seventh Australian to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
There’s no clearer indication of Sthalekar’s affect on Australian cricket than being just the fourth lady to be inducted amongst 57 members of the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
Lengthy-time teammate and now Cricket Australia board member Mel Jones hailed her tag-team companion now in commentary bins round the world as a “robust voice” throughout each the males’s and ladies’s video games.
“Lisa completely deserves to be inducted in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. She now rightfully sits amongst the absolute elite cricketers of the ladies’s recreation,,“ she stated.
“I used to be lucky sufficient to play with Lisa and witness her develop as an excellent all-rounder in all three codecs of cricket. Since retiring, Lisa has been a commentating mainstay round the world and never solely continues to play an essential position in constructing the profile of the ladies’s cricket, however extra importantly is a powerful voice throughout each the males’s and ladies’s recreation.
“This induction is implausible recognition of Lisa’s arduous work, and on behalf of Cricket Australia, I wish to congratulate Lisa for her unbelievable contribution to the recreation on and off the discipline.”
