- Shamser Khalid
First Female Cricketeer Sculpture Unveils at SCG
History was made in the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) precinct on Thursday. The world’s first sculpture of a female cricketer was unveiled. The bronze sculpture is of former Australian Cricket Captain Belinda Clark and shows her playing a trademark pull shot.
The sculpture (which was designed by artist Cathy Weiszmann) is just inside the entry of Gate A on Driver Avenue. It was unveiled by former governor-general Quentin Bryce on Thursday morning, and the event had plenty of people in attendance.
Some people who attended the unveiling were politicians, cricketers, and cricket fans who popped in before watching Australia take on South Africa in the New Year’s Test.
Also in attendance at the event were former teammates, including Mel Jones and Julia Price, along with family and other friends.
According to SCG chairman Tony Shepherd, the sculpture’s placement was chosen on purpose to put her alongside two of the greatest captains in the men's game, Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh.
When talking about the sculpture, Clark said, “The sculpture encapsulates being able to have a go—to be courageous, to take on those challenges and break convention.”
"I'm excited to have the sculpture in place and for people to now look at it and perhaps wonder what that is, who that is, and to be able to tell a bit of a story is really important."
According to the former cricket player, she had often met with the artist, and they had selected the final look of the sculpture from a set of figurines Cathy had created.
Clark’s statue is the 15th member of the SCG sculpture project. Other statues on the grounds include Australian cricket figures Fred 'The Demon' Spofforth, Richie Benaud, Stan McCabe, and Steve Waugh.
The statue is the latest in a series of honors afforded to Clark since the end of her career. Before the statue unveiling, Clark had an award named after her. It is given to Australia's outstanding women's international cricketer of the season.
Aside from her series of honors, was the first woman inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame, and the second woman inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
During her career, Clark was the captain of Australia's women's team for more than a decade. She holds the record for scoring the record double-century in ODIs becoming the first male or female cricketer to achieve the feat. Clark also dominated bowling attacks at ease as she scored 919 runs at 45.5 in Tests and 4844 runs in ODIs at prolific averages.
Following her retirement in 2005 and starting in 2019, Clark served as an administrator working for Cricket Australia, Cricket New South Wales, and the ICC.
When asked who the next female cricketer should be honored with a statue, Clark replied, “You could make a case for a number of people but I think it’d be great for something to be in Melbourne.”
“I know there is talk about statues in Perth with Zoe Goss, who could be a very worthy recipient. Betty Wilson was a pioneer of the game.”
