Australia’s Alex Blackwell has become the first woman in 159 years to be elected to the board of Cricket NSW, according to a report by News Corp.
Blackwell, 34, is the most-capped Australian women’s cricketer, with 251 international appearances across three formats in a career spanning 16 years. She recently retired from international and state cricket, but will play on in the WBBL 04 for Sydney Thunder.
Two other women – including current member Patricia Forsythe – have been appointed to the board, but Blackwell is the first to be elected.
Cricket Australia has recently had a focus on increasing opportunities for women post-retirement in cricket. This includes the appointment of Shelley Nitschke as assistant coach of the Australian women’s cricket team. Cricket Australia now employs six women in full-time coaching roles, and five as part-time assistants or national selectors.
“There are a lot of opportunities now for women to go into coaching and selecting, and as the game grows that encourages more past players to get involved,” said Nitschke in a recent interview with Guardian Australia.
“The opportunities are there and there are a lot more entry points now too – you don’t have to go straight to coaching a team, you can do some assisting with underage teams and really build a pathway to work into.
“I think Cricket Australia are really good at providing those opportunities and encouraging women to get involved in that space, so it’s a good time to be involved in both coaching and playing.”
Blackwell scored 5250 runs batting for Australia across Test, T20 one One-Day International formats, becoming just the fourth Australian to pass 5000 runs.
She was appointed vice-captain of the Australian team in 2008, and first captained Australia during the 2009 ICC Women’s World Cup in Sydney. In May 2010 she led Australia to victory at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies.
Blackwell was part of Australia’ World Cup winning sides in 2005 and 2013, and a member of Australia’s successful world T20 sides in 2012 and 2014.
