Lisa Sthalekar Becomes The 9th Female Cricketer To Be Inducted Into ICC’s Hall of Fame

One of the most awaited and prestigious announcements from ICC came today as it announced the inclusion of Zaheer Abbas, Jacques Kallis and Lisa Sthalekar into the hall of fame.

Lisa Sthalekar makes her names as the 27th Australian to make it to the feat. She has been one of the best skippers for women in the Australian side. She got her hand over the world cup four times. Not only this, but she also has two Belinda Clark Awards to her name. She is also the first female to grab the feat of having thousand one day International runs and a hundred wickets.

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Her contributions to Australian cricket can be best understood by the simple fact that she has placed a whopping one-hundred-and-eighty-five game for the nation. In those games, she amassed 3913 runs in totals with an amazing number of 229 against the wicket column. For modern and younger fans, Lisa is a constant face in the commentary box. She has been entertaining the fans after serving the game when it needed the most.

Thank you to everyone for your messages. Completely blown away by the 💓you are sending & this honour. To all my teammates, coaches & support staff thank you for making me the player I was. To my family, your love & support has always been cherished. #extremelygrateful @icc pic.twitter.com/92jZ9ElmTl

— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) August 23, 2020

Players and officials have congratulated Lisa for her much-deserved induction. Earl Eddings, who chairs Cricket Australia, said “Lisa is a legend of Australian and international cricket and this honour from the ICC recognises that. She was a match-winner with both ball and bat and the first woman to achieve the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in ODIs."

Australian elite Alyssa Healy made comments on the induction and the prolific career of Lisa. She said “Your contributions both on and off the first far in your life are pretty remarkable and it’s something that’s thoroughly well-deserved. The impact you had as a player is there for everyone to see in your stats but more importantly, the impact you’ve had on women’s cricket as a whole, both when you were playing and when you finished your career is pretty special and should be celebrated."

Lisa has been the ambassador of female cricket from decades and was the reason why the game got its early fans. Her story is nothing short of an inspiration. She was born in Pune and from an orphanage, she went to Australia. Backyard cricket has her first instance of seeing a bat and a ball in action.

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The push came from her father and Lisa out of all uncertainties and odds became one of the most celebrated women cricketers of her times.

Here’s a list of all the 9 Female Cricketers inducted into ICC’s Hall of Fame:

List of all the 9 Female Cricketers inducted into ICC's Hall of Fame. pic.twitter.com/MwzV5Fn3R9

— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 23, 2020

This article was published first on Female Cricket.