Belinda Clark, the former Australian cricketer has immortalized herself in cricketing history as a statue in bronze was installed in her name at the SCG’s prestigious Walk of Honour and was unveiled on Day 2 ahead of the 3rd test between Australia and South Africa. She now has the distinction of being the first-ever female cricketer to have a statue in her honour.
For the uninitiated, Clark has featured in over 15 tests and in more than 100 limited overs matches for Australia. She also holds the record for scoring the record double-century in ODIs becoming the first male or female cricketer to achieve the feat when she made that unbelievable 229 off 155 balls versus Denmark in the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 1997 and was subsequently named the ‘Wisden Cricketer of the Year’. She has also broken innumerable records and dominated bowling attacks at ease as she scored 919 runs at 45.5 in Tests and 4844 runs in ODIs at prolific averages. Besides being a World Cup-winning captain and having served as a skipper for almost 12 years, post-retirement she has also spearheaded the off-field development of Australian cricket by nurturing and grooming talent at the grassroots level and has also served as an administrator working for Cricket Australia, Cricket New South Wales and the ICC.
Australia’s all-time legend Belinda Clark immortalized in bronze at the Sydney Cricket Ground’s entry#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/KtlHaOLeJL
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 5, 2023
Clark also shared her excitement to have the sculpture in a place where people can look at it and wonder who and what that is and the fact that there is a story behind it is what is important. It is pertinent to note that the sculpture is located at the main entry to the member’s area next to stalwarts, Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh and that has a story in itself. She added, “The sculpture encapsulates being able to have a go–to be courageous, to take on those challenges and break convention. I want people to take away that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it and you have good people around you, and I think I’ve been very fortunate to have had great support and have a bit of an imagination to take my game where I wanted to take it, and hopefully, the sport is in a better place for it.”
The construction of this statue is remarkable and is certainly a welcome addition as it serves to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of women cricketers and considering how Australia has started this trend, hopefully, we can expect a lot more cricketing nations to install statutes for their cricketers who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of the game.
I am a first year postgraduate student pursuing a MA in Media and Communication Studies at Christ University, Bengaluru. I am a podcaster, blogger and an avid cricket fan. When not glued to cricket matches, you can find me submerged in books and thinking about cricket all the time.