Lisa Sthalekar inducted into Australian Cricket Hall of Fame

MELBOURNE: Former Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame on Friday.

One of the world's elite spin-bowling all-rounders, Sthalekar's career includes eight Tests, 125 One Day Internationals and 54 T20 Internationals for Australia from 2001-13, scoring almost 4,000 runs (3,913 - including three centuries).

Sthalekar was a member of four Australian World Cup-winning teams across the ODI and T20T formats and captained Australia in three ODIs against New Zealand in 2006. She was named Women's International Cricketer of the Year in 2007 and was awarded the Belinda Clark Medal - recognising Australia's best women's international cricketer - in 2007 and 2008. In August 2020, she became the 27th Australian to be inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.

Since retiring from the game after the 2013 World Cup win in Mumbai, Sthalekar has been a strong advocate for the increased professionalism of the women's game through serving on the board of the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) and as a director with the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA).

Her involvement in cricket also extends through to her work as a leading broadcast commentator in some of the game's pre-eminent competitions, including the BBL and WBBL, along with the Indian Premier League.

"Lisa Sthlalekar comfortably sits at the table of Women's cricket trailblazers alongside Belinda Clark, Karen Rolton and Melanie Jones, and the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame is delighted to welcome her as the latest inductee," Peter King, Australian Cricket Hall of Fame Chairman, said in a statement.

"As the Australian Women's Cricket Team conquers all before them, it has been Lisa's passion and skill as a cricketer and her courage and determination in her post-cricket career, that has driven elite standards of professionalism in the Women's game," he added.