Myrtle Baylis (1 May 1920 – 23 September 2014), also known as Myrtle Craddock, was an Australia women's Test cricketer and an Australia netball international. In 1948 she made her debut for both national teams, just five months apart. Between 1948 and 1951 she played in six cricket tests for the

Australia women's national cricket team The Australian women's national cricket team (formerly also known as the Southern Stars) represent Australia in international women's cricket. Currently captained by Meg Lanning and coached by Shelley Nitschke, they are the top team in all worl ...

. Between 1948 and 1954 she made three appearances for the

Australia national netball team The Australia national netball team, also known as the Australian Diamonds, represent Netball Australia in international netball tournaments such as the INF Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Constellation Cup, the Netball Quad Se ...

. In 1953 she also captained the Australia netball team. According to Netball Victoria, she was the first woman to represent Australia in two sports.

Early life

Baylis was the daughter of Johnny Craddock, who during the late 1910s and 1920s played Australian rules football for

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the ...

. His "bulldog tenacity" was said to have inspired the club nickname. Myrtle was raised in Sunshine, Melbourne and was still a resident of the suburb when she died in 2014.

Playing career

Cricket

;Victoria Baylis made her debut for Victoria during the 1945–46 season. ;Australia Between 1948 and 1951, Baylis played in six cricket tests for Australia. She made her Test debut on 20 March 1948 against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

during the 1947–48 tour. She was the 30th Australian woman Test cricketer to be capped. Baylis was described by ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' as a bowler of "unwavering patience and accuracy". She made her last test appearance on 3 June 1951 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Netball

;Victoria Baylis represented Victoria between 1937 and 1954. She later recalled cycling from her home in

Sunshine Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when ...

to Royal Park for training each Sunday. In 2000, together with

Sharelle McMahon Sharelle Jane McMahon (born 12 August 1977) is an Australian former netball player who List of Australia national netball team captains, captained the Australia national netball team. She played in the goal attack and goal shooter positions. Do ...

, Wilma Shakespear, Joyce Brown, Shelley O'Donnell and Simone McKinnis, Baylis was named in Netball Victoria's Team of the Century. ;Australia Between 1948 and 1954, Baylis made three appearances for Australia. She made her senior debut on 14 August 1948 in a 27–16 win against

at Forbury Park. This was just the second-ever netball international between Australia and New Zealand. It was also part of Australia's first-ever international tour. In 1953 she also captained Australia. In 2012, Baylis was inducted into the Australian Netball Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baylis, Myrtle 1920 births 2014 deaths Australia women Test cricketers Cricketers from Melbourne Australian netball players Australia international netball players Netball players from Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (state) People from Sunshine, Victoria