Lisa Sthalekar awarded life membership by New South Wales Cricket

Former Australia women cricketer turned commentator and coach, Lisa Sthalekar has been awarded a life membership by Cricket New South Wales for her outstanding career in which she excelled at all levels. It includes 14 women’s national cricket league titles with the NSW Breakers, as well as two World Cups with Australia and two T20 world titles. Sthalekar is the 19th woman to be inducted since Cricket NSW first began in 2003.

Lisa earned a lot of accolades during her playing career

Lisa was rated as the leading all-rounder in the world when rankings were introduced. She is the first woman to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets in ODIs. The 38-year old announced her retirement from international Cricket a day after Australian team won the 2013 Women’s Cricket World Cup.

Sthalekar is remembered for coming out of retirement to play for the Sydney Sixers in the first two WBBL seasons. Since retiring, Sthalekar has easily slipped into the commentary box, currently working in the Caribbean Premier League. The all-rounder has also worked in the WBBL, BBL and most recently Sky’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup in the UK. She also coaches and oversees the program at Mosman Cricket Club.

The Indian-born cricketer made it into the commentary box when everybody thought that the profession was not cut out for women. Lisa later became one of the four women to make it into the commentary panel of the Indian Premier League when she was roped in for the first time during the 2015 edition. Lisa, along with Melanie Jones, Isa Guha, and Anjum Chopra’s presence was one of the reasons for an increase in the female fan following and viewership of the mega event. She is a regular commentator not only in events like the Women’s World Cup but also across men’s cricket.

NSW in awe of Lisa

Cricket NSW chief executive Andrew Jones praised Sthalekar as a cross-generational star who made the leap from largely amateur women’s cricket to the new fully professional era and launched a career in the media at the same time.

“It is not just young players who are attracted to the excitement and glamour of the women’s Big Bash League. Lisa came out of retirement to play for the Sydney Sixers over the last two seasons when she wasn’t commentating on the matches for the Ten Network,” Jones said, as reported by news.com.

“The Sixers, of course, claimed the WBBL|02 title last season. And just for good measure, Lisa was a member of Gordon’s Premier Cricket team which won last season’s title.”

“Lisa is a serial winner, and it is that winning attitude, along with outstanding all-round skills, that have made her one of the most influential players in the history of women’s cricket.

“Her high standards and will to win pervade our women’s programs to this day and have been a major reason for our success.”