International Women's Day: SCG to have first statue of female cricketer

Sydney Cricket Ground. Pic/AFP

Cricket Australia on Monday announced its commitment to continue addressing gender imbalance on this International Women's Day, with the formation of a "Recognition of Women in Cricket Working Group".

As a major first step, the NSW Government's stadiums authority Venues NSW has committed to housing the first sculpture of a women's cricketer at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The sculpture will be the first of its type for a female cricketer, compared to the 73 known statues or sculptures of male cricketers across Australia.

"Just as this year's International Women's Day theme promotes 'choose to challenge', we are committed to challenging ourselves to continue to address gender inequality across our game. Precisely one year ago to the day, we were celebrating a ground-breaking moment when 86,174 fans packed out the MCG for the final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup," Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia's Interim CEO said in an official statement.

"So many challenges have been presented since that day, and it is now more important than ever that we keep pushing for equality in cricket and keep building the momentum established before the pandemic. This is a historic moment for the game with Venues NSW today committing to the first sculpture of a female cricketer at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and we can't thank Kerrie and her team enough for their leadership," he added.

In addition, Cricket Australia has co-commissioned a piece of artwork with the Melbourne Cricket Club that will depict the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 final. The artwork will be painted by award-winning artist Vincent Fantauzzo and will begin to redress the imbalance of artwork that depicts women's sport on the ground.

The piece will be showcased within the level 2 corridors of the MCC Members' Reserve where it will feature as a regular of the MCG Tour route, meaning more than 40,000 school children each year will learn the powerful story of the T20 World Cup Final.

Initial Members of the Recognition of Women in Cricket Working Group: Nick Hockley, Angela Pippos, Christina Matthews, Kerrie Mather, Kirsty Henshall, Kristene Reynolds, Lisa Sthalekar, Rachael Haynes, and Rina Hore.

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