Women’s cricket is in pretty good shape right now– and that is no small part due to the efforts of Werribee’s Anne Gordon and her ilk.
On Australia Day, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for her contributions to the sport as player, coach and administrator.
That all-rounder and left-hand fast bowler has hit massive heights but certainly started humbly.
“In the 1950s, Moe was a pretty young town and the boys used to play cricket, using the front gates as the wickets,” Ms Gordon said.
“They used to hit the ball over the fence to a woman who had a very lovely garden– and now that I am older I can see why she used to confiscate it.
“Once I went to go get it and they let us have the ball back, so the boys allowed us to play so we could go get it.”
After spending a lot of time down in Melbourne, she got the nod to play state cricket for Victoria at 18 during the early 1960s.
Becoming captain of Australia and a selector for junior cricket in England throughout the 1970s, she and her squads had epiphanies that went beyond the pitch.
A big one was witnessing political unrest and strife in Jamaica in 1973.
“I think it is also the journey– a lot of us hadn’t realised that we had such a good life in Australia– and when a lot of us went to Jamaica, we mixed with a lot of people on tour and grew up a lot.”
The impact she and her generation have had on the sport is evident in the young girls and women she still mentors.
“It is quite fulfilling really, because there are girls who are willing to listen to the stories.
“They are also willing to also put a lot more effort into the game, whereas before they used to be half hearted because they never had much in the way of coaching.”
She was asked for her best coaching tip:
“The only thing is to show faith when things are going bad… you just have to be there and nurture them through situations.”
