opinion

Forget the WAGs at the Allan Border Medal. How about our female cricketers?

Hands up if you’ve heard of the Belinda Clark medal? Bonus points if you know who won it this year…

The biggest cricketing awards were presented this week – with the Allan Border medal going to Steve Smith. The female equivalent; the Belinda Clark medal went to one of Australia’s top cricketers too –  Meg Lanning. But you probably didn’t hear about it.

Instead the only headlines concerning women at the event went like this:

 

And this:

 

Accompanied by images like this:

James Pattinson and Kayla Dickson Image credit: @cricket_aus Instagram.

 

Yep apparently this was the only notable thing that women did at the awards night…

 

But, of course, that’s not true.

There was another band of women that graced the red carpet AND the stage that night.

And there was a woman who took out one of the most prestigious awards in Australian cricket.

But we didn’t hear enough about her.

So, let’s change that.

The woman who won the prestigious Belinda Clark award, Meg Lanning, 22 won the same award last year – and she made so many runs in the recent women’s T20 international that she broke the record for the most runs in a calendar year at the event – beating English woman Sarah Taylor and in two less matches.

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And when we spoke to her about receiving the award, we found she was also very modest.

“It’s nice to be recognised. We’ve had a very successful year as a team and as a top order batter it’s important I make lots of runs so it was good that I was consistent,” Meg said.

You should also read: Why isn’t this woman a household name?

Meg is an opening batsman for Australia, the youngest ever captain of the Australian Women’s cricket team and of the Victorian Spirit cricket team AND was one of the first female cricket commentators for Channel 9 last year.

Meg Lanning with her team mates at the Allan Border ceremony.

 

Meg has previously received the Sharon Tredrea Trophy and the Cathryn Fitzpatrick Award as the WNCL and WT20’s Player of the Year for the Victorian Spirit – as well as being named the Women’s National Cricket League T20 Player of the Year.

You should also read this: Meet the next big thing in Australian Cricket.

In 2012 Meg broke the record for the highest individual score in the Women’s National Cricket League, getting an amazing 175 from 142 balls. Just over a week after getting the record she then went on to smash a huge 241 not out score in the Victorian Women’s Cricket Association – the highest individual score in Women’s Premier First’s Cricket.

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And if that isn’t enough – Meg led the Australian Women’s Cricket team – the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars to a third win in the ICC World Twenty20 recently.

The Southern Stars (who are killing it on the world stage) took the crown in Bangladesh against England for the T20 World Cup – in addition to taking out Pakistan and the West Indies at home.

Meg Lanning says the highlight for the team this year was the T20 World Cup win: “It was our third in a row – we beat England who had just beaten us in the Ashes, so it was good to get one back on them.”

“We’re ranked number 1 in the world for one day cricket and the T20,” Meg says.

The start of 2015 has been a great year for Australia’s cricketing women – especially for Meg Lanning. But we don’t hear about them enough. We want to see more coverage like this please:

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And in other sporting news from the week…

– The coach of the Australian Women’s Rugby 7s, Tim Walsh has named the squad who will be heading to San Paulo for the World Sevens Series. The series kicks off in Brazil next weekend. The squad will consist of Nikki Etheridge, to replace her twin sister Gemma who injured her foot in training, Chloe Dalton, Taleena Simon, Charlotte Caslick, Emilee Cherry, Ellia Green, Shannon Parry, Evania Pelite, Tiana Penitani, Alicia Quirk, Emma Tonegato, Amy Turner and Sharni Williams. Good luck to the girls.

 – New South Wales had a record win over Victoria in the Women’s Twenty20 final in Canberra. They smashed the Victorian team by 51 runs. Well done to both teams.

 – The number one female tennis player, Serena Williams will take on the number two, Maria Sharapova in today’s Australian Open women’s grand final. It should be a nail-biting game.
What have you seen this week?