English cricketer Sarah Taylor is set to become the first woman to play in a men’s tournament in Australia, when she keeps wickets for Northern Districts club against Port Adelaide later this week.
In case you have an elephantine memory, Sarah Taylor is the same cricketer whose Tweets to Ravinder Jadeja made Indians on Twitter assume that there was something going on between them.
Sarah plays for England, and has acquired a reputation for being a stroke player as the opener in One Day Internationals, and a middle order batsman in Tests. Sarah achieved the unique feat of getting selected to play in South Australia’s elite men’s competition.
When asked if she was tensed about playing in a competitive men’s tournament which is not exactly known to be polite and courteous, Sarah didn’t seem like a person who’d back out of a challenge.
“It’s going to take a bit for me to get used to the extra pace and bounce but I want to challenge myself and test where my cricket is at, to see if I can cope at that level. If I can’t I can’t and if I can, I can, but it will be a good challenge???.
However, it was her comments regarding sledging that really makes you stand up and applaud her temperament. When she was asked about how she’d feel about sledging, if she encountered any during the match, Sarah had this to say:
“If I get any sledging (verbal abuse), it’s a bit of respect because they’re treating me like one of the other players.???
Sarah is a wicket-keeping batswoman and has earlier impressed the cricket world by becoming the fastest woman to reach to 1000 ODI runs. Sarah Taylor has been a part of England teams that won the Women’s World Cup and the World T20 Tournament.
A few Australians are however, miffed that a British woman acquired the feat of becoming the first woman to play in a men’s domestic cricket tournament. In case you haven’t seen her in action, here’s a clip of Sarah Taylor talking about her craft:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKYfJxO6fBM
Â
