Elyse Jayne Villani (born 6 October 1989) is an Australian

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

who played for the Australia national women's team from 2009 to 2019. She has also played domestic cricket for various teams in both the

Women's National Cricket League The Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) is the national domestic 50-over competition for women's cricket in Australia. Featuring seven teams—one from every state, plus the Australian Capital Territory—each season's winner is awarded the ...

(WNCL) and the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 ...

(WBBL).

Cricket career

Villani began playing domestic cricket for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. She played for the Australia under-21 side in 2008. This team beat the senior Australian team in January 2008 in a match where Villani scored 85 runs from 78 balls, then came within 6 runs of defeating them again in October 2008. She was one of six members of the under-21 team to be named in Australia's 30-player preliminary squad for the

2009 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, held in Australia from 7 to 22 March 2009. England won the tournament, beating New Zealand in the final to claim their third World Cup title. England batte ...

, but she was not in the final squad for the tournament. Villani made her international cricket debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 2009 in a

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...

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 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. She was part of the Victorian team that won the inaugural Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup and part of Australia's team for the 2010 ICC Women's World Twenty20, but she lost her place in the national team after the tournament. She didn't return to international cricket until 2013. In the 2013–14 Women's Ashes series, she played for Australia in all three formats, making her

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and ODI debuts. Villani played for Australia in the

2014 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2014 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the fourth ICC Women's World Twenty20 competition, taking place in Bangladesh from 23 March to 6 April 2014. The tournament was played in the cities of Sylhet and Dhaka – Cox's Bazar was originally inten ...

in Bangladesh. She helped Australia win their final group match, scoring 90 runs from 54 balls against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. She was one of the biggest boundary-hitters of the Australian team, who made it to the final 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 b ...

, which they won. In June 2015, she was named as one of Australia's touring party for the 2015 Women's Ashes in England. In April 2018, she was one of the fourteen players to be awarded a national contract for the 2018–19 season by

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA), formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Crick ...

. In October 2018, she was named in Australia's squad for the

2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 The 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was the sixth edition of the ICC Women's World Twenty20, hosted in the West Indies from 9 to 24 November 2018. It the second World Twenty20 hosted by the West Indies (after the 2010 edition), and the West Ind ...

tournament in the West Indies. In November 2018, she was named in the

Perth Scorchers The Perth Scorchers is an Australian domestic Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the Western Australian city of Perth in the Big Bash League (BBL). The Scorchers are the current BBL Champions, having defeated the Sydney Sixers in the ...

' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season. In April 2019,

awarded her with a contract ahead of the 2019–20 season. In June 2019, Cricket Australia named her in Australia's team for their tour to England to contest the

Women's Ashes The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in male cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the ...

. In January 2022, Villani was named in Australia's A squad for their series against England A, with the matches being played alongside the

Personal life

Villani was a student at

Eltham College Eltham College is an independent day school situated in Mottingham, southeast London. Eltham and Mottingham once formed part of the same parish, hence its name. It is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC). Early hi ...

in Melbourne. She came out as lesbian in 2015, the second member of the Australian team to do so after

Alex Blackwell Alexandra Joy Blackwell (born 31 August 1983) is a former professional cricketer who played for New South Wales Breakers, New South Wales and Australia national women's cricket team, Australia as a specialist batter. In October 2017, she made h ...

. Villani's

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

is "Junior". She is an ambassador for Gray-Nicolls.

References

External links

*
Elyse Villani
at Cricket Australia {{DEFAULTSORT:Villani, Elyse 1989 births Living people Cricketers from Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (Australia) LGBT cricketers Australian LGBT sportspeople Lesbian sportswomen Australia women Test cricketers Australia women One Day International cricketers Australia women Twenty20 International cricketers Victoria women cricketers Staffordshire women cricketers Northern Districts women cricketers Western Australia women cricketers Perth Scorchers (WBBL) cricketers Loughborough Lightning cricketers Melbourne Stars (WBBL) cricketers Tasmanian Tigers (women's cricket) cricketers Trent Rockets cricketers Hobart Hurricanes (WBBL) cricketers Australian expatriate sportspeople in England