Betty Rebecca Wilson (21 November 1921 – 22 January 2010) was considered one of the greatest woman

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ers of all time. She represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Women's Test cricket Women's Test cricket is the longest format of women's cricket and is the female equivalent to men's Test cricket. Matches comprise four-innings and are held over a maximum of four days between two of the leading cricketing nations. The rules gov ...

between 1947–48 and 1957–58. Wilson batted right-handed, was a good

off spin Off spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners bowl with their right-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery is called an off break, which spins from left to r ...

bowler and a superb fielder.

Early life

Born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Wilson grew up in the inner neighbourhood of Collingwood and learned the game by playing against a lamp post in her street. At the age of 10, she joined the Collingwood Women's Cricket Club where she played with the adults. She made it to the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

second XI at the age of 14, and to the senior side at 16.

Cricket career

The Second World War delayed her Test appearances till 1948. On her debut against

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, she scored 90 and took 4/37 and 6/28. In her second Test in 1949, she scored 111 against

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becoming the first Australian woman to score a Test century against England, and took nine more wickets. This made her the first woman cricketer to score a century and to take a five wicket haul in an innings of a Women's Test match. She toured England in 1951 and scored 81 in the first Test at

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

. Against Yorkshire, she scored 100* in 77 minutes, leading Australia to a last ball win. After this series, she stayed in England for two and a half years. In the St. Kilda Test against England in 1957–58, she became the first cricketer, male or female, to score a 100 and to take 10 wickets in a Test. On a wet wicket, she took 7/7 in the first innings which included the first ever

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a women's Test. The feat was not repeated until Shaiza Khan of

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did the same in 2004. She top scored with 12 in Australia's low first innings and a 100 in the second. Taking 4/9 in 19 overs in the second, she set another record for the best bowling of 11/16 in a match, which stood as a record till 2004. Wilson played 11 Tests in her career scoring 862 runs at 57.46 and taking 68 wickets at 11.80.

Test match centuries

Honours

In 1985, Wilson became the first woman cricketer to be inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame. In 1985–86, the Under-21 National Women's Cricket Championship was renamed the Betty Wilson Shield. In 1996–97, the age group was changed to Under-19. In 2015, Wilson was inducted into the

ICC Cricket Hall of Fame The ICC Cricket Hall of Fame recognises "the achievements of the legends of the game from cricket's long and illustrious history". It was launched by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Dubai on 2 January 2009, in association with the Fe ...

. In 2017, Wilson was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame. The Betty Wilson Young Player of the Year award was inaugurated at the 2017 Allan Border Medal Ceremony, to recognise a female cricketer who, prior to 5 December 2015, was aged under 25 and had played 10 or fewer matches.

References

Notes

*''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket''

External links

*
Cricinfo : Wilson interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Betty 1921 births 2010 deaths Australia women Test cricketers Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees Cricketers from Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Victoria cricketers Women's Test cricket hat-trick takers Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees 20th-century Australian sportswomen