Test Match Special - From the Ashes: Sarah Elliott

Episode Date: May 10, 2023

The third episode of a new series where the BBC’s Chief cricket writer Stephan Shemilt discovers some of the untold stories from the Ashes. In this edition Stephan talks to former Australia batting all-rounder Sarah Elliott who made a hundred against England whilst breast-feeding her nine-month-old son during intervals.Elliott became pregnant in 2021 a year before a women’s Ashes series. At first she thought becoming a mum might end her international career, or at least put it on hold, until she asked if she could combine motherhood with playing for Australia. That set off a chain of events that led to her Ashes hundred, made with baby Sam on the boundary edge.As ever, you can read much more on the BBC Sport website and app.

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Hello, I'm Stefan Shemelt, the BBC's chief cricket writer, and this is from The Ashes, a test match special podcast. We have been hearing some of the untold stories from cricket's most storied rivalry, and this week it's all about the Australian woman who made 100 against England whilst breastfeeding her nine-month-old son during intervals. Sarah Elliott, a batting all rounder, had played one test for Australia before she became pregnant in 2012, a year before a Women's Ashes series. At first, she thought becoming a mum might end her international career, or at least put it on hold, until she asked if she could combine motherhood with playing for Australia.

That set off a chain of events that led to her Ashes 100 made with Baby Sam on the boundary edge. This episode of From the Ashes is all about Sarah Elliott. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Sarah, let's start with you were an international for Australia and you played in three Ashes tests, I think I'm right in saying. Tell us about your cricketing career. Yeah, I was fortunate enough to be contracted with Australia for sort of 10 years. I was always the fringe kind of a player, carried the drinks on lots of occasions. But it was fortunate enough to play those three test matches and some one-day games.

I played in the first ever T20 match, which was against England, way back when. So, yeah, had a reasonable journey playing cricket, something that I very much enjoyed and felt very fortunate to do. How did your cricketing journey start? I played every and any sport growing up. I didn't start playing cricket too. I was maybe 15, 16, 14, 15 maybe. I played at school. I had a PE teacher in secondary school

that encouraged a group of us to get involved in any sport that was on offer. And so we formed a cricket team. And from there, he encouraged me to go on for representative tryouts. And I was successful in making through to those. And from there played cricket for Victoria, underage cricket for Victoria and then found a club. I was fortunate enough to join a club where the likes of Catherine Fitzpatrick, Mel Jones, just to name a couple, played at that club.

So when I turned up there as this young kid who hadn't played much cricket before, they really took me under their wing and I'm fortunate to them for opening up the world of female cricket to me. What role models to have at that time, Mal Jones, Catherine Fitzpatrick, absolutely, legends of the game. Oh, absolutely. And their attention to detail, they're working. ethic, that sort of thing, to be able to see that as a youngster and say, hang on a minute,

this is, I can kind of touch this. I can see what these girls are doing and I watch them go off on tours and what an exciting thing to be able to do through cricket. So that really sort of energised me and so fortunate. Blinda Clark came to the club a few years after I'd been there and got to play underneath her at a club level, perfect training grounds. Those three, but more than them, were just really groundbreakers in terms of the way they're the game, their training, things like that.

And you made your Australia debut in 2005, which was a big summer for cricket in this country. So not only what was going on with the men's ashes, but also the women's ashes, which was an amazing series, and that was the first time you didn't play in a test match. You played in the limited overs games, but that was an incredible summer for women's cricket in England, winning back the ashes for the first time in a very long time. Thanks for the reminder. That's great. No, it was. It was amazing to watch the public interest in both the boys and the girls' format were over there and the real, the crowds that attend matches, how far ahead England were in a T20 game and leading the way in that and the crowds that followed those games. Yeah, you guys had a great summer.

At that point, what was the landscape for a international cricketer who might have wanted to become a mum? I guess it wasn't something that was something that we really. particularly talked about young group of girls playing. People had eyes fixed on work. It was never out of the question, but no one had done it before that I knew of. I'd certainly just actually step back, but I'd played club cricket at club cricket. I was fortunate enough to play with another lady called Julie Savage. She was an Australian selector. And at that time, when I was coming through, she was an Australian team manager. And she had played club cricket and she'd had given birth to two daughters. And she'd come straight back after the birth of her.

daughters, come straight back in, just loved cricket and did everything she could to get back in time for club finals. So there was a precedent there. And I'd seen that and, you know, played alongside Julie. And I guess so that did, you know, create an opening. So you'd made your debut when you were about 23. And then you're an international cricketer. And so at that time, where are we with contracts, maybe full-time contracts, or are you an international cricketer who's also holding down a different job away from the game. Yes, at 23, I've just finished uni. I'm a qualified physio working full-time in the public health system in Melbourne,

not getting paid to play, but getting everything covered, or all expenses, paid, support with training, those sort of things. I feel very fortunate, never had to pay my own way, always had access to specialist coaching, the merger between the Australian Women's Cricket, Association and the ACB, as it was then, it had happened. So I was in a fortunate era in terms of, we'd made that breakthrough. But at 23, yeah, that was the landscape. I remember going, the very first tour I went on, I remember us all lining up in our team

uniforms and they were all oversized. They were men sizing. Blinda Clark was captain in the team then. She was working at Cricket Australia and advocating. And she'd taken this photo just to sort of take back to Cricket Australia and say, you know, we need, we need some of our own tailored stuff. We can't just be wearing the men sort of hand-me-downs. So that was, yeah, 2005.

When did you get your first contract to be a cricketer, a full-time cricketer? Never. I never quite made it in my journey. And I was fortunate enough to go through that area of being semi-professional. I played state cricket for 17 years and towards the back end of that. And certainly when I was pregnant with Sam, actually after I had given birth to Sam and I got selected on that Ashes tour, at the same time I lost my cricketer. contract, which is fair enough.

And at that point, that was when the girls went to that more fully professional. That would be a bit of a stretch. But they went on to significant sort of contracts at that point, which was 2012. Well, there's certainly a point when you were a part-time cricket holding down a contract with cricket Australia. For me, there was a point somewhere midway through, three-quarters of the way through that career where I decided I could drop back a day of work. So that was as far as it got for me.

we're talking 15, 20,000, played in the first couple of WBBL. And so in those last few years, I would have got more than I had, you know, in a year as opposed to almost the whole career. So you made your Australia debut in 2005 and you got married in 2009. A natural progression for some people after getting married is to turn their thoughts towards having a family. And you and your husband, when did you turn towards thinking about having a family? I'm not sure there was ever really a sort of conscious decision.

To be honest, the year before Sam was born, I got really sick with some pulmonary embolus, so some blood clots on my lungs, which is a massive health scare. Yeah, it was a really significant sort of injury or illness. And I guess that probably sort of prompted me a little bit in terms of life being pretty sure. It was never a sort of conscious decision.

But I knew I wasn't done after that. So pretty much off the back of that illness coming back, I had to take a significant period of time. After that, I turned out that I was pregnant. And that was sort of the decision. I felt like I hadn't finished on my own terms. I hadn't really played much post that illness. And that's so the opportunity to keep going.

At any point, did you think becoming pregnant and having a family would stop you from playing for Australia again? Yes. It was right. When I found out I was pregnant, it was right on contract time. And Julie Savage, I mentioned before, rang me and said, You got contract. It was before 12 weeks, which is where most people let the world know they're pregnant.

And I told her confidentially, I said, I can't accept the contract because I'm pregnant. And she was great. She said, not a problem. We'll name you as having a contract. And then you can withdraw from the contract once to 12 weeks is up. And you can, you're more comfortable at, you know, being public with the, with letting people know that you're pregnant. And so that's how we left it. And that just sat in the back of my head.

And I think it was 24 hours later. And I said to her, hang on, is there the option to keep playing? If I want to keep playing, can I stay on contract? And she went away and spoke to the powers that be and was a great advocate and came back and said, yeah, absolutely you can. If your intentions to return to play for Australia, then let's do this.

My husband, Rob's amazingly supportive. He'd been on that journey of, you know, waiting years before getting my debut in test match cricket. So he'd been through that journey and he'd shared in the success that we'd had in winning that ashes and the disappointment of the illness and things like that. and I think we've probably just had lots of conversations and it just wrestled, wrestled with me.

And I'd seen, like I said, I'd seen Julie do it with her kids. So that's where I got to in making that phone call. What was the reaction when you told people that you were pregnant and you wanted to come back and you wanted to keep playing for Australia? I think overwhelmingly sort of supportive. I don't remember any sort of, I mean, it's certainly challenging along the way in terms of the practicalities of it and that side of things.

but in terms of why not, I think, I was surrounded by a really amazing group of athletes, coaches, support staff that were just pushing, you know, to get the best out of themselves. And I, yeah, felt encouragement to do it. And it never meant that I was going to get selected to play again, but at least gave me the opportunity to be supported through the pregnancy, be supported after the pregnancy.

It was quite good timing in terms of the cricket season in Australia. he was born in October, Sam was born in October, so there's an opportunity to get back for the next season, probably not to play for Australia straight up, but to play a domestic season of cricket. Did you have some excited teammates? Do you have messages saying, while they'll always have a babysitter,

there'll be lots of cuddles going around for the new arrival when it arrives. Were they excited? Absolutely, they were. Yep, absolutely. That journey, Victorian teammates, particularly, you know, living, doing training day and day out with those girls. and they certainly delivered on it. I had endless amounts of babysitting and whatnot.

How long did you keep training for when you were pregnant? Fitness-wise, kept right up for right through pregnancy. I was lucky I worked at the Northern Territory Institute of Sport. At the time, I was working as a physio and sports medicine coordinator. So I was working with my colleagues who were the Strength and Conditioning Coaches who supported me through that. In terms of bat versus ball, that stopped. I can't remember when it stopped, to be honest.

but there was a bit of two and froing with Cricket Australia's sort of insurance risk, risk managers saying, oh, sure, because it was all new ground. So nobody actually knew specialists gave their opinion, you know, where the fetus sits in your tummy up to a certain number of weeks. It's very safe to play. What protective equipment are you going to wear? Do you want to take that risk? I feel like I was a bit more tentative with first pregnancy. And then I played through a second pregnancy and a third pregnancy for Victoria and WBBL.

and was probably a little bit less strict on things. But certainly I went on at all the Australian camps and everything that they were doing. I'd go and I just have a modified program to do. But I know that in that first pregnancy, I knew that it was October when he was going to be born. I knew when the domestic competition was, and I knew that I had to play at least half that season

to be in contention for selection for the ashes, which was going to happen in the middle of the following year. So I'd say that it was batten ball for a significant period of that time. How hard is it to pick up a bat or to bowl a ball a ball when you're when you're pregnant and your body is changing? And so I was really lucky I didn't put how much weight. It was just baby weight. Very, very fortunate. Yeah, I certainly wasn't, don't picture going into the nets facing Elise Perry with a belly sticking out because that certainly wasn't anywhere near what it was like.

You've just mentioned it where you said, right, I think I've got to play half a season to be in contention to get back into the Australia aside. At what point are you doing maths going, right, babies due in October. The ashes is in the Australian winter, the English summer. When is that going through your mind, right? Babies due. This is when I've got to play. It's probably in that 24 hours between the phone conversation with Julie and

ringing her back, to be honest, in terms of the timing of things. I was on the way, the end stage of my career. I hadn't been picked in the last one day series, test match I'd gone really well. So I knew that it was the test match and there was word that they were going to pick different teams for the first time test match as opposed to one day for that tour. So, yeah, those calculations were probably going on the whole time, knowing that anything can happen in pregnancy, absolutely anything, right, you know, right leading in and then post, post-delivery as well.

So it was all just in theory. Summer arrives in October. Everything goes smoothly, everything okay? Yeah, it's pretty good. And I was in the gym a couple of weeks after and build up from there. So in the gym a couple of weeks after Sam is born, when did you start thinking about cricket? It was a little bit contentious because I had to wait for Cricket Australia's medical clearance and they wouldn't clear me until six weeks to get back to competitive cricket.

So at six weeks, I'm pretty sure I played my first club game of cricket. Probably on next to no training, maybe, maybe with tennis balls. I can't quite remember. I was living in Darwin at the time and I was playing in Victoria. So there was that factor in as well. So at six weeks in around there, five or six weeks of Sam been born, I moved, came back down to Melbourne and six weeks and then at eight weeks I played a game to Victoria. So there's a lot to unpack here.

Firstly, you've played at six weeks, which is no time at all. But from the sounds of it, you were wanting to play sooner. You just were having to wait for cricket Australia's clearance. Is that right? I'm glad that they help. I'm glad that they help me. off. That game was tough, that first club game back. But you're also living in Darwin and travelling to Victoria to play.

And that is not a short distance. No, it's a four-hour plane flight, but I'd done it for the couple of years previous. So that bit wasn't new. I've got a great, a big supportive family in Melbourne. Rob, my husband's work, was flexible, flying in and flying out. So we'd done the whole living between Melbourne and Darwin. It certainly was a different challenge when you'd jump on the plane, with a five or six week old that you've got no idea what you're doing anything with,

but it was great because I had grandparents on hand. I had a full network of support around me to make this happen. But the thing that we're building up to is the care that you were giving to Sam during that 2013 test at Wormsley, but by that point he was nine months old. So what are you having to do during a club game all day on a Saturday to look after Sam in order for you to play? And obviously, we know you've got support there, but the thing that made that 100 at Wormsley

that made you famous at the time was the fact that you were feeding, Sam. So you're doing that when he's six weeks old and you're playing on this club game on a Saturday as well? It was well practiced at it. By the time he was nine months old and we were in England, we had the routine down part of how it worked.

I mean, it's the real challenges, I guess, are the sleep deprivation. Sam wasn't a great sleeper and then the feeding and the energy that takes, I found it really is draining. you know, in terms of the appetite, what you've got to eat to try and then give away so much energy to Sam in terms of that feeding stage. And I was really determined to feed Sam for as long as I could. So we're still feeding him at nine months.

But at six weeks, there are times when babies are almost constantly feeding. How are you getting around this? And you've just mentioned it as well. Most parents within the first, I don't know, three months or whatever, it's an absolute blur. So you have got yourself from Darwin to Victoria. You're playing cricket on very little sleep and you have a very, very small person who is incredibly dependent on mum.

How was that first game? How were you nipping off from the field? Were there any times when you're thinking, I'm certain I can hear Sam crying? I'm certain that's him. What were you going through on that day? Yeah, absolutely. All of those things.

I remember being really sore on that game. Still, my body wasn't quite right, that club game. You're right, it's a blur. I don't remember much of it. Rob would have been on the sidelines or mum and dad. There is a game. I don't know where it is in that thing, but the opposition would,

there was a point where Sam was crying off the field. I was on fielding, and one of the opposition that already batted and got out, called me over and said, come on, I'll subfield for you. You've got to go off and feed him. He's inconsolable. And that's the beauty of the cricket community.

Like everybody just got around me. that was one of my team, my Victorian teammates who, who chipped in and helped me out. So, yeah, and actually, you know what? And I actually feel really fortunate in terms of when I look back on it. It can be a really hard transition from becoming a parent. But I had, I was lucky because I had a fitness. So I had opportunity to maintain a fitness.

And that, you know, endorphins and that's really good for mental health. I had a focus. I had a job in some, in some regards in terms of parts on focus. So I feel like it actually. was a really, it really helped the transition for me into motherhood to still have something, something for me, a focus and an opportunity to get out socialised with my mates and do some fitness work. I kind of feel really fortunate. Can remember when the first time was that you got a score of note?

Because fielding's one thing, isn't it, when you've got a nip off? It's another thing when you're 20 not out. And it's a different level of concentration as well. Anyone who's played the game will know that you can occasionally just drift off at fine leg if you want to. a good distraction for me in lots of ways. I used to worry a lot about cricket and preparing and so focused on what I had to do, but all of a sudden I didn't have the time or there was something more important than my actual performance was what I had to do in around looking

after Sam. So it's quite good in terms of, and I'm sure there was times when Sam was screaming and Rob or my mum just wandered off further and further away from the ground so I couldn't hear him. He'd had his feet, he'd had nappy change, whatever it was. there was nothing I could do, so they just took charge there. Yeah, I was pretty focused. I missed the first couple of the state games and was determined to, you know, take every opportunity. And thankfully, I must have done enough to, yeah, at least be in the selectors' mind.

I think more than that, it was about what I'd shown I could do in the previous test match. They knew that I could bat for long periods of time. They knew that I could concentrate. And I played a very specific role for them. So I can't remember scores for Victorian around. but just enough to show that, you know, and there was still time. The test series wasn't until August, I don't think. Yeah, because you'd made your test debut back in 2011

and made 81 not out in the second innings. After Sam was born, you've sort of slowly made your way back through the club game in the winter of 2012, 2013. You've got yourself back playing for Victoria. Can you remember when you got the call for the ashes? There's snippets of stuff I remember we went to a season launch in Sydney I don't remember the bit before that

but I remember feeling like how awesome's this and I said that I'd go along and I think my dad ended up to come with me just the logistics around looking after Sam while the launch was on but not being old enough to be away from him and I remember that was a really special moment What are those conversations that you're having with Rob

about going on that tour? So firstly was there ever any question that you wouldn't do it because of Sam or just the effort it takes to get a little one across the world? Or if there was never that question and straight away you know you're going to do it, how much planning did it take? Yeah, never any question. Opportunity offered, like what an amazing privilege to pray for my country.

So never any question, a heap of planning, internal sort of stuff. Like, how is this going to work? Like, who's coming? Is it, how are we going to make this happen? It needs to be raw. but my mum and dad came over also. I was lucky my sister was living in England. So I had a whole entourage of people helping me out.

You know, what extra luggage are we traveling as a nightmare in terms of trap porticots and prams and all that kind of jazz. And then there was a lot between Cricket Australia as well. Like how does this work? Who pays for flights? Who pays for accommodation? All those sorts of things was all groundbreaking. And thankfully, we've come a long way in terms of been supported on tour.

And it was certainly challenging in that initial one. It was different, you know, what Crigger Australia would support me to do in terms of who travel with me and who paid what compared to what Crigger Victoria did were quite different. And it was groundbreaking and, you know, we worked through that. And thankfully, we're at a point now where it's a really smooth and easy, well-supported kind of situation for mum's returning. How much of the financial burden did you have to take? on yourself.

Just as an example, if they, if we toured with 14, then it was, we all shared rooms in those days. So if we toured with 14, then I would have to pay the cost for an extra room so I could have my own room with Rob and with the baby. But if we toured with 13, then I could go and ask the captain because she'd normally have her own room. And if she agreed, then I would take her room and she would room with somebody else. So I was always fortunate.

Of course, the captain always agreed to do that. little, you know, little things we'd have to hire a car because, obviously, Sam couldn't travel on the team bus and all those sorts of things, flights for support, support, family support members, those sorts of things. And that was different at a Victorian level. They were probably a bit more supportive. But in saying that, Cricket Australia were amazing. Just it was kind of groundbreaking and they came on the journey and did open updoors and were

certainly, you know, talking through the process. And you made it. How was the journey? Because anyone who's ever flown on a long flight with a baby will know it is very difficult. And I guess you're doing it with however many teammates in all your Australian kits and all those sorts of things. And is Rob flying with you as well? Or have you flown with the team and it's just you and Sam? How did that work?

Yeah, that was an interesting one too. Because I was living in Darwin. So they wanted me to fly back to Melbourne to fly over the team. But in the end, we decided that it would be better for me to fly by myself. the baby might be a distraction for the other girls. So it was perfect. Rob and I flew out of Darwin to Singapore and we just made our own way and met the team in London,

which was a much better journey. I don't remember the flight. I don't remember any. That's all a blur. A lot of it's a blur, but we made it. I just remember Sam screaming jet lag on those first couple of days and Sam screaming and Rob been a champion and just at all hours been up. I'd feed Sam and then Rob was like,

you're here to play cricket. I'll take the brunt of those first couple of days It's a pretty rough. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. There's more from Sarah Elliott soon when she will tell us all about that Ashes Sentry at Wormsley. That's after this.

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Perfect for the ultimate defender. The high-performance defender, octa 626 horsepower twin turbo v8 engine and intelligent 6d dynamics air suspension learn more at landrover dot ca you're listening to the tms podcast from bbc radio 5 live so you've made it you're here sam's here rob's here you're with dad here and you've got a lot of support in that series and that was the first one i think where it was the multi-format ashes where points go to different points for the different formats in the test, the Wandaia's and the T20s

go towards whoever wins the Ashes. But the test matches first and that's why you're here in England and there were a couple of warm-up games were they sort of a dry run not only for you to prepare to play in the ashes but to see how it would work between you, Rob and Sam or did you already have that routine pretty much nailed?

I think we pretty much had it nailed from the domestic cricket that I played that sort of routine. Obviously a different country, different set up with, you know, what change rooms, what facilities are available, that sort of thing. But no, that was pretty much just cricket and just we've done that before. Let's go through the motions. And the sleep? How was that? Sleep wasn't good for that for that tour. But, you know, we're all on a high just being there, just that thrill of competing and whatnot. So I think, and I was kind of used to

sleep deprivation as well in some ways. And it, yeah, you just get on with, get on with the job at hand, just as any other teammate had their, you know, distractions or whatever. In some ways it was good because I didn't have time to think or brain capacity to actually worry about stuff. How not good? How not good are we talking? Feeding every two or three hours. That would have been the case the night before the test match started. Yep.

Yep. Absolutely. A particularly rough night that night before the test started in Wormsley? I don't remember being particularly rough, but they all felt rough. They're all rough. They all felt rough. Yeah. So you're there at the Getty Ground in Wormsley, beautifully picturesque place to play cricket.

You've not slept the night before. Happy to be batting first? Or is it better to field in that situation? Because you're down to bat at three and you've not slept all night. Absolutely happy to be batting first. Let's get this over and done with. Yeah, for a purpose. I got one job or two jobs to do to bat in two innings

and obviously to field for the rest. But let's get into it. I was wrapped that we won the toss. and rapt to be sort of batting at three and get that opportunity, you know, early as opposed to having to wait around a day or two. Because you're in the 10th over.

That's early. So you're in the 10th over, which is, I don't know, 40 or 45 minutes into the day's play maybe a little bit less. From then on your bat all day, 95 not out at the close. How were you feeling at that point? Were you running on fumes?

Absolutely. I think it's better to keep moving, isn't it? It's once you stop that you collapse. So for that period of time, it's just, it's game on and it's concentrating every, every ball. I think that was my strength, the ability to switch on, switch off to bat for a long period of time. Yeah, and you sort of just get on a roll with it.

You're conscious of stuff, you know, the minute you come off at a break, it's straight to feed Sam, you know, and Rob would sort of get that time he'd hold, even if Sam was hungry, he'd hold him off so that the minute I came off, I could feed him directly as opposed to expressing milk because that takes the longer period of time. And so it was a pretty well-drilled kind of machine for how things had to work. But it's just once you step over that line, it's just watch the ball, hit the ball, and keep making good decisions. You feed enduring breaks at lunch and tea.

Are there provisions made for you? Is there somewhere else that you can go? What's happening? Where are you feeding Sam at this point? No, worms was a pretty tight ground and they had lots of other things going on. So just in the change rooms with the other girls and that got a real laugh from the girls, I think Midge, Elisa Healy still tells the story of this funny sounding like duck noise of the express pump, which is a pretty unique sound of that going on in a corner of the

change rooms where I was tucked in and saying that they were great in terms of, especially when I was batting, Sam straight into the change rooms to feed as opposed to, you know, if I wasn't part of the game, then I'd take myself away somewhere quieter. Not there's a lot of space, but outside somewhere to feed Sam away from the girls that were focusing, but when I was out in the middle, certainly Sam straight into the change rooms for a quick feed. And when you're batting, Wormsley is very picturesque, very intimate. It's the sort of place where spectators can put their deck chairs right up close to the

boundary edge if they want to. Do you know where Sam is? Can you hear him? Would you know which part of the ground he is? Can you hear him if he's crying? Maybe not the crying, but absolutely I know where he is. I'm sure if he was crying, I hear that too, but for the most part, But Rob and mom, dad, sister, everyone just would be walking laps with him to keep him happy.

He'd be on the baby carry up and I'd watch him or be on the mat, having a kick around and a bit of a play, crawl around. And then, yep, up gets Rob and straps him on and walk around. Absolutely. You tune into those things. That helps, you know, that switching on, switching off. Okay, right, I'm back into the game now. And it's great because I just felt their support, you know, like it was actually really

lovely to look up and go, hey, we're in this together. bit. Even from, I don't know, maybe the non-strikers end or something, that's the moment that you've switched off and you can see, you can see Sam on the mat or he's walking a lap or whatever. Yeah, absolutely. I'm sure there's moments where you really tune in and then moments where you're sort of withdrawing, you're back in the game.

A day of test match cricket is hard enough. Teams will have nutritionists, dieticians, whatever, to keep you fueled and hydrated and all those things. But breastfeeding is hard as well. That is massively draining. and it takes it out of a mum, how do you physically keep yourself, or how did you physically get yourself into the position

to be able to do your job as a cricketer and as a mum? Again, team effort, isn't it, like in terms of having Julie Savage on that tour and others that just made sure that there was plenty of fuel around, so food? Did you have to do anything different? Was it extra drinks? Was it extra food?

Was it anything that you wouldn't normally eat or drink? Just volume, probably, in terms of just. had to get volume, volume in, certainly super hungry when I was feeding and needed to eat a lot, a lot to keep my energy levels up. So just, just a heap of food and probably been a bit better in between breaks to eat a little bit more and some energy rich kind of foods. So 95, not out overnight. Was it another bad night? Yeah, it was another bad night. I would have just to tick it off that first day would have been much easier. But it was a rough night. And in some ways, it's not a bad thing, because I'm just,

The minute I come off, I'm tuned into what, you know, what Sam needs and feeding and trying to get him to sleep. And there's no lot of downtime there. You'd probably know you've got, you said, you've got kids. You're straight into, like, come on, we're going to get to bed, the routines, the whatnot, and focus is there. So I'm not really thinking too much about the game. Because all your teammates, they must be going off for dinner. They can go and relax for the rest of the day. I mean, I'm sure they've probably got to do something pretty nasty like an ice bath or something like that.

But there is the routine, isn't there, to decompress. from a day of test cricket and then the evening's your own. But you haven't got that, have you? No, that's collapsing into bed, I think, by that stage well and surely absolutely collapsing. And the following morning, you completed your Ashes 100. You got those, you know, the five runs that you needed to go to three figures. What was that like? Because a minute ago, you just referred to it as a team effort.

You've got everyone there. You've got your husband. You've got your parents. All the members of your family and Sam. So what was it like to have all those guys there? But particularly, Sam, when you've just made a century and an Ashes test. Really, really special. I can still kind of relive that moment.

Just looking over, you know, that kind of distant eye contact with Rob and with the other members of my family and teammates as well. That's a really special achievement. You know, really, I dragged myself there. I'm sure it was not a pretty innings. It wasn't great probably in the context of the game, you know, if it was a really, really special moment, just to know what it had taken, to get there,

that we actually pulled it off, you know, to actually perform and make those runs. Yeah, it was a really special moment. Were you ready for the attention that it caused? Because it did cause attention, didn't it? What you'd achieved whilst doing what you were doing with Sam? No, I don't think I was, I wasn't ready for it all. I mean, I was just doing my job.

I was just, I was focused. fixed at this goal and I wanted to achieve it a bit oblivious to the significance that other people gave it. Did you know it was significant what you'd achieved? The significance was that I'd never made a test 100 before, that that was almost more the significance was, hey, this is a special moment, this is a hundred in a test match. That was the significance as opposed to your mum that's done it. That didn't feel that significant to me.

So you were out for 104, the game actually, me amiable. to a draw you had to bat again obviously you had to spend a lot of time in the field laura marsh made a very very slow half century in that test match when you're fielding were you ever nipping off to be with sam was that a little bit easier than than the batting part of it or were you were you on the field um constantly yeah no from memory on the field constantly you know there was enough um every couple hours there's a break and and that would be race off and um get it express some milk or feed sam But no, when I was on, I was on, and I remember being, you know, fierce to try.

I wanted to get the ball in my hand to have a crack, see if I could take a wicket, which I didn't bowl a heap, but I did get a few overs in that game. Just how special. I knew that it was probably going to be my last, you know, I didn't have much longer. I was still hungry and wanted to play and compete and be part of the contest as much as I could. You've alluded to it a little bit with Elisa Healy, remembering the breast pump going in the corner of the changing room. But what did your teammates think?

I mean, there was a young Meg Lannin in that team that day. What were they thinking? I'm not sure what they were thinking. They were probably thinking this is a bit funny. This is a bit weird. I don't know that you really get it until you've been on that journey yourself, until you've actually had a baby, held a baby, your partners had a baby, and you've seen.

They're young kids. They've got no, at that point, they're probably, I don't know, 18, 19, 20-year-old sort of kids, with probably no real context of, yeah, it was fun. You know, it's fun, there's a novelty, there's a baby around the hotel room, but maybe not the sort of significance of, I think that's probably hit them a little bit later.

In the England team was Aaron Brindle, another mum who was playing at that time. Was there a little bit of camaraderie between the two of you, knowing what each other had gone through to be playing international cricket as two mums? it's probably one regret that we didn't have a heap of opportunity to sort of speak about it but certainly a mutual respect more from a distance as opposed to you know taking the opportunity to really talk about it and share that shared journey test was drawn how are you feeling

at the end of it is there a word to describe the tiredness that a mum can go through having made a hundred gone right through to the end of a four-day test match whilst at the same time looking after and feeding her nine-month-old son? I think just absolutely exhausted. There's no, maybe shattered, just exhausted. I do well and truly remember that. You didn't play in the rest of the series. You knew you were only there to play in the test match.

So what did you do? Did you hang around in England? Did you have some time for a holiday, for some family time? What came next? Yeah, we did. We hung around. Rob, unfortunately, had to go back to work, but my family stayed over.

My dad's English. We went down to Kent. to tent at him where he grew up and was born and had a really precious family holiday visiting some relatives and yep enjoying an English summer. You played another test in the following year. There was actually back-to-back Asher series in England and it followed straight away in Australia.

Were you still in a similar situation with Sam there? Where were you in his development and how were you looking after him during that test match? That was the same. So what are we talking? Six months on. Was it? So still feeding Sam. But by then I think he was sleeping a little bit better. He was significant, what would he have been? Nearly 15, 16 months maybe. So sleep had improved,

I'm sure, still feeding, but not as often because he was on solids a bit more by then. So that was an easier sort of journey. Although it was in Perth and it was ridiculously hot. I remember that period of time and that adds another dimension on things. But a similar similar kind of routine. Your international career came to an end and you played a little bit, a little bit of Big Bash at the end of your professional career. How was that for you to tail off? And how are you juggling things of being a mum? Because you mentioned that you had two more children. Yeah, I really love the Big Bash. I think I would have retired. My second son was born in March. and there was word that the Big Bash was starting the following season.

And that was enough to, I armed an art about whether I could do that again, the pregnancy and come back. But then when I heard the Big Bash was going to happen, it was after Jacob was born. I decided, okay, let's have a crack. And it was probably nowhere near as intense to sort of lead in because it wasn't, you know, striving for that Australian level. But I really enjoyed, I had a year with the renegades

and a year over in Adelaide with the strikers. I was pregnant with my third child with Jocelyn and I chose not to come back I finished off the season and that was the end so I finished up maybe 20 weeks pregnant if that with her and that was me done. I wouldn't have been 20 weeks pregnant. Your last game for the strikers was in January 2017 but you were playing in the Big Bash pregnant with your third child. I was but it wouldn't have been to it would have been much less than that and I do remember because I didn't want it was that was a harder one in some ways because I was really fringe of selection of that team and I was more nervous to tell them that I was pregnant because I just got this contract with with the strikers and I kind of would still have to prove myself a little bit as opposed to saying well actually I've just found out I'm pregnant so tread carefully around me in training and I remember doing some running sessions pregnant with Jocelyn and I just felt really sick and sort of hiding behind them.

that but yeah two was enough coming back a third time was too much were you more relaxed though because we spoke about earlier on how tentative you might have been i don't know in the nets or whatever when you were pregnant with sam once you were doing this a third time it sounds like you were more relaxed about that sort of thing even playing in the big bash when you were pregnant yeah yep i'd had some good medical advice um in that regard and and felt that yeah i was I was safe to keep playing, so I think definitely more relaxed knowing what a pregnancy looks like, even though every pregnancy is different, but just knowing my body and whatnot, absolutely. And when was Jocelyn born?

She was born in August of 2017. So we're only talking seven months, really, between when you've been playing in the Big Bash to when the third one came along. And then that was it. You've moved on away from professional cricket, but you're still involved. So are you still playing club cricket? Unfortunately not. I played one game last year.

I always say that I'll feel in, you know, if they're short or if I can help them out, and it never eventuates to, you know, I always say I'll play three or four games, but it never happens like that. Unfortunately, the kids fought pretty busy, Sam's 10 now. He's got his own cricket and baseball commitments that make playing even club cricket on a regular basis a bit tricky. I've had my turn. Does he know he was there for that 100?

Do you tell him about it? do you say, you saw Mummy make a hundred and an ashes test? Yeah, he does. He's probably at that age where he's kind of proud of it. You know, he's pulled out the baggy green and taking it to school to show off. And, you know, he's seen the photos. There's a couple of great photos we've got of, you know, him in my arms in around the lead into that. And then after the game, and he thinks that's pretty special.

How have you seen then, just looking back on it really, just as a couple of final thoughts? how have you seen the game develop for mums and even not just in Australia and obviously there are lots of mums playing international cricket now but thinking of someone like bismar maroof as well who's who's been afforded all the benefits of being a mum playing for Pakistan we're talking about your experience 10 years ago how have you seen the game develop And is there anything that you wish that the players have now that you wish you'd have had back then? Well, there have been tremendous developments and, you know, credit to cricket Australia

and other big bodies that have really pushed for that change. You know, they've got their, Chris Australia, have a great maternity, paternity policy in place now. It's a different era in terms of, you know, I wasn't playing on a professional contract. And that was right as Sam was born, that era into professional contracts. So I think it's really good. and it had to happen that there was provisioned in place. If you're getting paid, you know, a full-time professional salary,

you need to be, you know, treated in a professional way too in terms of maternity leave and that confidence that your contract, you were still going to get paid your contract. I always had my physio to kind of fall back on and to work around. So the progressions in that has been tremendous. And it's paternity and maternity leave and conditions that have come into play that really encouraged women to keep playing, which is what we want.

I think we would have seen a few more retirements if that wasn't the case. And how did you look back on what you achieved? I think you alluded to it earlier, actually, that you more thought of it as the achievement was scoring the century in an Ashes test match rather than anything around what you pulled off as a family. Is that what you still look back on that? It was a cricketing achievement rather than, I don't know, a triumph of motherhood. yeah i think i think probably both still my favorite my memory in terms of cricket stuff

was a test match that we won um in whatever year 2011 that's still the highlight for me that because we won the game and i was able to contribute to that that success and we won the ashes back so in terms of cricketing success that's what i really kind of hold on to so then probably as time goes on and the kids are older i do reflect on it as been well what an achievement you know as a family and that's pretty special time like to be able to play test cricket and had my son there with me husband with with me and you know that's really really special and it you know it was exhausting and it was tough but i think any test cricket is tough and competing anything's tough um so i was just really fortunate that i got that opportunity and and was able to i felt

there was pressure to perform because i'd been picked in the team sort of against the odds to do a job and I was pleased that I was able to actually to do that job and to score runs even if we didn't quite get the result we wanted. And you know it's something that you will always always be asked about and always remembered for? That's it. I get the random emails from journalists. You know, whenever there's something about motherhood

or, you know, pregnancy and sport, kind of get pulled out, which is, it's a pretty special thing. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. That was Sarah Elliott, and don't forget, able to hear every ball of the men's and women's ashes series on test match special from the 16th of June. There's more cricket on BBC Sounds, no balls, the Test Match Special IPL podcast and there will be another episode of From the Ashes next week. Why is it called a smart speaker? Because it's smart. You ask it to do something and it'll be done. Just say, smart

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