Australian woman bowls at 120km/h

Press, 26 April 1979, Page 28

Australian woman bowls at 120km/h

By

DAVID LEGGAT

When a leading sportsman or woman is asked how many runs, tries or goals he or she has scored at international level, most will have a fairly good idea. Many will be 100 per cent accurate.

Therefore it is a refreshing change to find an international sports person who has not the slightest idea or interest in his or her personal achievements. Such a person is the leading Australian woman cricketer, Sharon Tredrea.

Miss Tredrea is in Christchurch until early May. One of the main reasons for her visit is to act as bridesmaid for Vicki McGregor, a New Zealand cricket representative, who will marry Mark Burtt, a national hockey representative. She was encouraged to take up cricket by her brother and played her

12. Miss Tredrea, the present Australian captain,

has played, in her own words, "‘‘about 10” test matches as well as having played in two World Cup tournaments, in England in 1973 and last year in India. She was joined by her sister, Jeanette, on both trips. Now 24, she first represented Australia in 1973, and in the six years since, has made five overseas tours. Miss Tredrea is a member of the Preston club in Melbourne, where

she works as a senior bank officer. The organisation of women’s cricket in Australia is very similar to the New Zealand setup. There is no regular interstate competition like the Sheffield Shield, basically due to the extreme costs involved. Early in January each year, the state teams meet

for a tournament. This is the only real opportunity the country’s top players have to judge their form. In New Zealand, the Hallyburton- .nstone tournamer.‘ provides the main competition. According to Miss Tredrea, Victoria is the strongest women’s cricket state. Four years ago, women’s cricket in Melbourne consisted erf about 30 clubs. Now the figure is over 70. The efforts of

a promotions committee have had a great deal to do with the rise in playing numbers, meaning a wider range of players from which to choose a representative side.

The quietly-spoken, modest Miss Tredrea certainly does not give the impression of being the world’s fastest woman bowler. Nevertheless, she

has been tifbed at 120 km/h,■'"a lively pace by any standards. ", In one way, Miss Tredrea typifies a trend in world cricket. Justifiably, . she classes herself as an all-rounder, opening the bowling and batting about No. 5. When she first made the Australian team, it had specialist batsmen and bowlers, with a few all-rounders, Now, she says, almost every player can bat and bowd well

enough to qualify as a genuine all-rounder. Miss Tredrea is a fan of World Series Cricket basically because she enjoys watching “The Best Possible Cricket.”

She admits that the first time she saw the West Indies team in strawberrycoloured outfits and the Australian team in gold she found it hard to get used to. However she adds that night cricket, with its attacking field plac-

ings. colourfully attired players and huge promotion is tremendously exciting.

She makes short w’Ork of any suggestion that the players are involved only for the money. “No team under lan Chappell plays for fun. He hates losing.”

Miss Tredrea seems certain to be representing Australia for some time to come, W'hich can only mean a testing time ahead for international batsmen.