Australia’s Jess Duffin will miss the women’s Twenty20 World Cup after announcing that she is pregnant.
On 31st morning Jess confirmed that she and her husband Chris are expecting their first child. She has told Cricket Australia she will be unavailable for the World Cup, which begins on February 21.
Duffin was selected for the 2010 World Cup Twenty20 in the West Indies and played in every match of Australia’s unbeaten run, batting at No. 5 on every occasion. In the first warm-up match, she took a catch and made 19 from 22 balls as Australia lost to New Zealand by 18 runs. In the last warm-up match, she made 26 from 25 balls with one six as the Australians made 5/166 and defeated Pakistan by 82 runs.
Australia were grouped with England, the West Indies, and South Africa. In the first match against England, Australia were set 105 for victory. They were struggling when Duffin came to the crease with the score at 3/44 in the ninth over, and Leah Poulton fell at 4/45 four balls later. She made 12 from 10 balls, hitting the solitary six of the match before falling to Holly Colvin. This triggered a collapse of 3/3 in the space of 16 balls, to leave Australia at 7/63. However, the match was tied.
In June 2015, she was named as one of Australia’s touring party for the successful campaign at the 2015 Women’s Ashes in England, playing one ODI and all three T20I matches.
She hit 544 runs at an average of 68 for the Melbourne Renegades, making her a serious chance to break back into the Australian side for the first time since stepping away in 2015.
“2019 was full of exciting adventures and plenty of wonderful memories,” – Jess Duffin posted on social media.
“July 2020 is going to be even more special when our very own baby girl is due.”
“I found out when I was about four weeks. I was pregnant through the whole Big Bash,”
“When those conversations came up (in the media about Australian selection) I thought, well everyone is going to laugh when they find out.
“Cricket Australia were obviously stoked, and were like ‘we know now why you didn’t play Australia A stuff’.”
She also becomes the first women’s cricketer to be covered by Cricket Australia’s new player parental leave policy, announced in October.
The 30-year-old should be able to return to cricket at any point she feels comfortable.
An ardent cricket admirer who grew up watching a lot of cricket. She loves reading up articles for breakfast, prefers match discussions at lunch and finishes by analyzing games for dinner. A person who views sports as a metaphor of life.