Lisa Sthalekar has always loved to turn that cricket ball. Not just because her life has been full of turns. She was adopted when she was three weeks old by a couple from the United States that were actually looking for a baby boy but immediately loved the girl at the Pune orphanage.
Her parents moved to Australia, where she fell in love with cricket, but was initially under the impression that it was only for boys. She went on to become the first woman to complete the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in ODIs. She made 3,913 runs and took 229 wickets across formats in international cricket. She won four World Cups and also captained Australia. She has been a coach, a commentator, and is now also a co-founder of a company that takes women on cricket tours. Excerpts from an interview Sthalekar gave The Hindu in London:
You have played with women from the golden generation of Australian cricket…
I came into a very successful team. When you are a player in that environment, you don’t see the big picture. You are trying to stay with it and amongst them. So, it is only after you retire, you can sit back and look back.
What worked for Australia, I think, is the work ethic and our domestic structure, how players get into the team. You have had to fight very hard. So that has enabled players, when they come in, they have the confidence and can have an immediate impact.
And there has been an environment long before me of Australia being successful. So that has kind of passed down. I am very happy that I was part of it. I am really glad that I was part of a very successful period of time with the Australian team. The ICC events are really special and I think it is a great opportunity for different players to put their hands up.
Trophy collector: Sthalekar enjoyed a lot of success in international cricket. ‘What worked for Australia,’ she says, ‘is the work ethic and our domestic structure.’
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How special was that Test match hundred, against England, in 2003? It was just your second Test.
When I walked out to bat in the second innings, we were in a bit of trouble in that Test match at the Bankstown Oval in Sydney. So the main thing was not to allow England a chance to get in and win that match. Alex Blackwell and I shared a really big, long partnership and we were both roommates at the time as well. So that was cool.
I enjoyed my bowling spells, too, but they are shared memories with the team. There are so many special moments because we were such a successful side. There were World Cups that we won but each kind of team had its own unique personality and team members and each one of them created different memories on and off the field for you.
Thwarting the old enemy: Sthalekar’s Test century against England in 2003 pulled her team out of a tricky spot. She recalls her long partnership with roommate Alex Blackwell as a ‘cool’ moment.
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You have been associated with the Women’s Premier League from the beginning, as the mentor of UP Warriorz.
My experience with UP Warriorz has been wonderful. I have enjoyed working with that group. They are really passionate about what they are trying to do. It is not just about wins on the field. There is a holistic approach. So, yeah, unfortunately things haven’t quite clicked, but I don’t think we’re that far away. I think the two franchises that didn’t have IPL teams were probably initially at a disadvantage trying to learn how the auction works and scouting and all of that type of stuff. But look out for the UP Warriorz come Season Five.
Your thoughts on the WPL as a competition?
It is great. I would love to see a domestic competition in South Africa, in Bangladesh, in Pakistan, in other countries as well because that really does allow your domestic players to go that next level up. And they learn off the overseas players, and they get kind of thrown into the lights, camera, action. With that comes pressure and learning how to perform on centre stage, and that takes time. So we have seen obviously at the WPL players like Nandni Sharma and Kranti Goud. Shree Charani as well has kind of come through that pathway and has been able to come in and have an immediate impact.
Where does women’s cricket go from here?
Who knows? The world is its oyster. What I would love to see is that the women’s games are played in the main stadiums and they are sold out regularly, not for a pinnacle match. So there is a bit of work still to be done.
What made you think of launching a company, Around The Wickets, to conduct cricket tours, mainly for women?
When I played in the 2005 World Cup in South Africa, my co-founder [Rina Hore] and her few friends and a couple of families came out, and it was really nice to see people that you recognised in the stands. I felt — Why isn’t there something for women’s cricket? There are so many people that love it, but they are normally individuals and they don’t quite know how to travel. Sometimes females are hesitant to travel by themselves, so we are creating this community, we call them troopers, because you have had to be a trooper to follow women’s cricket in the past, but things are changing and so we took a group to India for the Women’s ODI World Cup.
So that was the first tour?
Yeah, that was the first one, so we had 10 on that tour. We formed the company at the beginning of last year. This [to England for the Women’s T20 World Cup] is the second one. We do something around the Australian summer, too. The last two summers we have had Test matches. We do events around that. We bring people in the night before the first day of the Test and catch up and talk about the game and the players, and get some old players.
How has the response from women been?
Good, they loved it. Men can come as well. When we had ten people, it included a man. Before a Women’s T20 International at the SCG, they all went to the pub and had a drink, and so it is a little community.
How much do you enjoy this?
It is great. I got a lady from New Zealand to England for the World Cup. She had never really treated herself in her life. And I got Vinti from India who had never been to London. It is a chance for them to meet different people but also just sit and love the cricket and follow it.
Published – August 29, 2026 07:35 am IST
