If I were to ask you who is the
first cricketer to have scored a double century in One Day International
Cricket, there is no doubt that the unanimous answer would be Sachin Tendulkar.
The Little Master may have a gazillion cricketing records to
his name but, contrary to popular belief, Tendulkar isn’t the first player to
score 200 runs or more in a One-Day International.
Let’s go back in time and take a
leaf out of the international women’s cricket. 13 years before the master
blaster batsman reached this landmark, there was a lady, who had already
achieved this feat. On 16th December 1997, the then skipper of
Australian women’s cricket team Belinda Clark had smashed an unbeaten 229 off
just 155 balls against Denmark in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup match that
was played at MIG Ground, Mumbai to propel Australia to a
mammoth 412 for 3 against Denmark. It was a brutal annihilation of an
inexperienced attack, and Clark was just too hot to handle for the Denmark
eves. The Australian team went on to win the match by a mammoth margin of 363 runs.
Belinda Jane Clark was born on 10th
September 1970 in the metropolitan area of New Castle in New South Wales,
Australia. She is a former female
Australian cricketer, who played international cricket from 1991 to 2005. In an
international career that spanned for close to 15 years, Clark led the Australian women’s team to
two World Cup victories (1997 and 2005) and one final (2000) after taking
charge in 1994.
On 16 September 2005,
Clark announced her retirement after playing in 118 one-day internationals and 15 Tests. She holds Australia's record
for Test and ODI runs and also for ODI appearances.
After her retirement,
Clark took on a new role as manager of the Australian
Cricket Academy in Brisbane. She
was appointed a Member of the Order
of Australia in the Australia Day
honours list in January 2000, for service to cricket, particularly through the Australian Women's Cricket Team, and
to the promotion and development of the game for women and girls. Clark was
inducted into the Sport Australia
Hall of Fame in 2011. Clark became the first female player inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame during
the 2014 Allan Border Medal ceremony.
Currently Clark is the manager of the National
Cricket Centre in Brisbane. There she has overseen not only the development of
the Southern Stars (nickname for
Australian women’s cricket team) but an increasing level of interaction,
communication and shared training among male and female cricketers at the top
level. In 2011, she was inducted into the ICC
Cricket Hall of Fame. She was also appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2000 “for service to cricket, particularly
through the Australian Women’s Cricket Team, and to the promotion and
development of the game for women and girls.” She has also served as the CEO of
Women’s Cricket Australia. Clark captained the Australian women's cricket team from
1994 to her retirement in 2005. In 1998 Clark was named Wisden
Australia Cricketer of the Year. Clark played one Women's Twenty20 International and 89 Women's National Cricket League matches.
Belinda Clark was a giant of the Australian
game both on and off the field, where she combined the roles of player and
captain with that of chief executive of Women's Cricket Australia. She has led
by example, averaging over 45 in both Tests and one-day internationals. That knock in Mumbai is definitely the highlight of Clark’s
glittering career. It is a world record that is bound to stand for ages and it
is rather unfortunate that her remarkable achievements are hidden and
overshadowed by her male counterparts. Even still, Belinda Clark is proud to be
joined by the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Chris
Gayle and Martin Guptill in the club she started. Great company to be in, don’t
you think?
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