Leah Joy Poulton (born 27 February 1984) is an Australian former cricketer who played for
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and Australia. She played as a specialist batter who usually opened the batting.
Poulton came to prominence in youth cricket by captaining New South Wales to the Under-17 national championships in 2000. In 2002–03, she made her senior debut for New South Wales in 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). She found runs hard to come by in her first three seasons and was in and out of the team frequently, aggregating only 24 runs in her second and third seasons combined. Despite this, she regularly captained Australia's Under-19 and Under-23 teams during this time, leading the latter on a successful tour of Sri Lanka in 2004. In 2005–06, made a substantial impact on the WNCL for the first time, scoring 325 runs, more than twice her previous best season's total, playing in the first of five consecutive WNCL triumphs for New South Wales.
Poulton was rewarded with international selection in the
Rose Bowl series
The Rose Bowl series is a series of Women's One Day International cricket matches between Australia and New Zealand that has been running since February 1985. It was originally known as the ''Shell Rose Bowl''; the name was changed to the ''Ros ...
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 ...
at the start of the 2006–07 season and scored her maiden century, 101, in the third match. However, after a poor tour of India at the end of the season, she was dropped from the Australian team in mid-2007 and continued to be overlooked after a poor WNCL season in 2007–08. During the 2008 Australian winter, she travelled to play for Nottinghamshire in England, and earned herself a recall to the Australian team at the start of the 2008–09 southern hemisphere season. After scoring 376 runs at a
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
of 41.77 in the 2008–09 WNCL, Poulton retained her position in the national team 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 ...
and the
2009 World Twenty20
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that took place in England in June 2009. It was the second ICC World Twenty20 tournament, following the inaugural ...
. She was a regular member of the playing team in both tournaments, participating all the matches in the latter. In 2009, Poulton made 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), ...
debut against England and in 2009–10, she hit her second ODI century, 104 not out against New Zealand.
Poulton announced her
One-Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...
retirement in December 2012, and announced retirement from all forms from the game in March 2015. While announcing her ODI retirement, she said that it was the
Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...
format that strengthened her love for cricket, and if not for T20s, she would have retired sooner.
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
coastal city of
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, and plays for the Wallsend Cricket Club in the city. She grew up in Newcastle, before moving to Sydney. She attended Lambton High School and outside of cricket, she works as a physical education teacher.
In March 2000, soon after turning 16, she played for New South Wales in the national Under-17 championships. She scored 141 runs at a
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
of 23.50 and took two
wicket
In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings:
* It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. ...
s at a bowling average of 15.50 as New South Wales defeated Victoria Blue to win the competition. In January 2002, she was selected for the state Under-19 team and scored 112 in the first match, against the Australian Capital Territory. She also made two ducks and ended the tournament with 188 runs at 31.33; New South Wales won all of their six matches.
Senior domestic debut
At the start of the 2002–03 season, Poulton made her senior debut for New South Wales in 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 ...
in a double-header against
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
. In her first match, she scored 12 in five-wicket victory. Playing in ten matches, she made many starts, reaching double figures in all but one of her nine innings, but managed only a best score of 36
run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket.
A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket be ...
, against
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. She ended the WNCL season with 159 runs at 19.87 as New South Wales came second, ending a run of six consecutive titles.
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 ...
qualified first and thus hosted the finals, defeating New South Wales 2–0 in a best-of-three series. Poulton made only 1 and 11 in the deciding matches, which were lost by 3 wickets and 40 runs respectively.
During the season, Poulton also played in the Under-19 interstate tournament during the break in the WNCL, captaining her state. In five innings, she made three half-centuries, with a best of 73 against Queensland in the final, which New South Wales won by five wickets. She was unbeaten in the other two fifties after opening the batting; New South Wales completed ten-wicket wins in both instances. Poulton ended the competition with 191 runs at 63.66. She was rewarded with selection in and captaincy of the national Under-19 team during the season and played in two matches against England Under-19s, scoring 13 and 35 as Australia won both matches. At the end of the season, she was selected to lead an Australian Under-23 team to play against the senior England team. Poulton made 15 in her only innings.
Poulton had an interrupted season in 2003–04. After playing in the first two matches against Western Australia, scoring only 3 not out and 1 as New South Wales took both matches, she was absent until the finals series. Victoria had qualified first and hosted the three-match series. Poulton was omitted for the first match, which was won by the home team, before being recalled for the second match. She made 1 and 11 as New South Wales won the last two fixtures by five and three wickets respectively to claim the title. However, Poulton contributed little to the team's triumph, managing only 16 runs at 5.33. At the end of the season she was appointed captain of the Australian Youth team and played in four matches against New Zealand A, scoring 127 runs at 31.75 with a best of 75 in the second of these fixtures.
Sarah Tsukigawa
Sarah Jane Tsukigawa (born 16 January 1982) is a New Zealand former cricketer who played as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm medium. She appeared in 42 One Day Internationals and 19 Twenty20 Internationals for New Zeal ...
had success against Poulton, dismissing her three times in a row. Australia won all but the last match.
Poulton was then made captain of the Australian Under-23 team for a tour of Sri Lanka in September 2004. The tourists played four one-dayers against the host nation's senior team and won all but the abandoned third match. In the second match, Poulton scored 14 and took her first wicket against senior opposition after bowling for the first time at the level. She made her top-score of the series with 48 in the third fixture, and made 33 and took 2/10 in the fourth match. Poulton then made her debut in non-one-day cricket against the Sri Lankans, scoring 10 before being run out. After Australia took a 102-run lead, she top-scored with 40 before declaring at 8/150 and leading the team to a 140-run win. She took a total of 0/24 from 10 overs.
After playing in the first four matches of the 2004–05 WNCL season, Poulton missed three matches in a row before playing her final match of the season against
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
and being dropped for the three finals matches against Victoria. New South Wales lost the finals 2–1 after finishing the regular season first and earning the right to host the series. Poulton batted only three times and accumulated eight runs at 4.00 but New South Wales nevertheless won all of these five matches.
Poulton returned to form in the 2005–06 WNCL season, playing in all of New South Wales' 11 matches. After being
run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket.
A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket be ...
for 39 in the first match against Western Australia, she made consecutive half-centuries against Western Australia and Queensland. New South Wales won seven of their eight round-robin matches to qualify to host the three-match finals series against Queensland. Up to this point, Poulton had only scored 24 runs at 6.00 in four WNCL finals matches and had been dropped ahead of the deciding series the previous season. In the first match at
North Sydney Oval
North Sydney Oval is a multi-use sporting facility in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, owned and operated by North Sydney Council. First used as a cricket ground in 1867, it is also used for Australian rules football, rugby league, rug ...
, Poulton top-scored with an unbeaten 70 to guide New South Wales to their target of 175 for an eight-wicket win. She made 28 of her state's 154 as Queensland took the series to a deciding match with a three-wicket win in the second match. Poulton was dismissed for five in the deciding match as New South Wales were bowled out for 146, before dismissing the visitors for 144 to claim a two-run win and the WNCL. She ended the season with 325 runs at 32.50 as New South Wales won 9 of their 11 matches to claim the title. Poulton bowled for the first time in the WNCL, conceding 18 runs from two overs.
Poulton won the Belinda Clark Medal four times, for the best performance for New South Wales in a season. She was the first player to score 1,500 runs in
Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup
The Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup (WT20) was the premier domestic women's Twenty20 cricket competition in Australia. Beginning in 2007 as a series of exhibition matches, the first official tournament took place during the summer of 2009–10. ...
, and the only player to score a century for New South Wales in Women's Twenty20 cricket.
International debut
These performances were not enough to gain selection in the Test and one-day series against
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
held in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
immediately after the WNCL. However, Poulton was called up for her senior international debut 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 ...
in the
Rose Bowl series
The Rose Bowl series is a series of Women's One Day International cricket matches between Australia and New Zealand that has been running since February 1985. It was originally known as the ''Shell Rose Bowl''; the name was changed to the ''Ros ...
staged at
Allan Border Field
Allan Border Field is a cricket ground in the Brisbane suburb of Albion in Queensland. The Australian Cricket Academy has been based at the oval since 2004 using it as a base for the development of elite cricketers throughout Australia.
It w ...
in
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
at the start of the 2006–07 season because of an injury to fellow New South Wales batsman
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 ...
. The chairman of selectors Margaret Jennings said "She is a talented player with a free-flowing game, and we are keen to see how she performs against New Zealand, whom we expect to provide some very tough competition." Poulton played in all of the matches. She made 10 in her
Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...
international debut and the match ended in a tie.
In her One Day International (ODI) debut, Poulton opened the batting with
Melissa Bulow
Melissa Jane Bulow (born 13 June 1980) is an Australian cricketer. She has appeared in two Test matches, 19 One Day Internationals and 2 Twenty20 International
A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of ...
and occupied the crease for nine balls before being trapped
leg before wicket
Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...
by
Sarah Burke
Sarah Jean Burke (September 3, 1982 – January 19, 2012) was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event. She was a five-time Winter X Games gold medallist, and won the world championship in the halfpipe in 2005. She s ...
for a duck. This left Australia at 1/0 with after 21 balls; the hosts eventually scraped home for a one-run victory. Poulton said that she was "way too nervous" during her maiden innings. She scored her first ODI runs in the following match, making 16 from 25 balls with 4 fours as the hosts won by a single wicket with a ball to spare. In the third match, Poulton scored her maiden ODI century, 101 from 136 balls, including seven fours and a six. Australia went on to seal the series with a five-run win. She then made 68 from 76 balls—including ten fours—in the next match before being run out, laying the foundation for Australia's 9/252 and an 85-run win. Poulton made only 12 in the final match as the hosts completed a clean sweep of the ODIs with a four-wicket win. In her debut series, she aggregated 197 runs at 39.60 with a strike rate of 70.86. Poulton is the 107th woman to play One Day International cricket for Australia.
During the 2006–07 season, Poulton played in all 11 of New South Wales' WNCL matches, scoring 227 runs at 20.63. New South Wales struggled in the first four round-robin matches, losing three. In the fifth match, against Western Australia, Poulton scored 64 to set up a six-wicket victory. New South Wales won their last four matches to qualify in second place for the final, which was hosted by Victoria. Poulton scored 17 and 39 in the first two matches, both times being run out. New South Wales scraped home by one wicket in the first match, but the hosts levelled the series with an eight-wicket win the next day. In the third game, she made only nine, but New South Wales eventually reached the target of 206 with three wickets in hand to take the finals 2–1. Poulton took her first WNCL wicket in the season, bowling a full quota of ten overs against Western Australia, taking 1/23. Her maiden wicket was Avril Fahey, trapped
leg before wicket
Leg before wicket (lbw) is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed in the sport of cricket. Following an appeal by the fielding side, the umpire may rule a batter out lbw if the ball would have struck the wicket but was instead in ...
. She ended the season with one wicket at 63.00 at an economy rate of 3.50.
After the end of the Australian season, Poulton was selected for the ODI team the ICC Women's Quadrangular Series in
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. In addition to the hosts and Australia, New Zealand and England were also participating, and each team played each other twice in the round-robin phase. Poulton scored only 8 and 0 from 21 and 8 balls respectively as Australia lost their first two matches against New Zealand and India respectively. She was then dropped for the next two games. She was recalled for the penultimate round-robin match against England but did not bat in a six-wicket win, and then made 27 as Australia defeated India by four wickets in the last match. The Australians needed 231 for victory—4.62 runs per over—and Poulton got their innings off to a slow start, taking 75 balls to accumulate her runs, scoring at less than half of the required rate. However, her teammates sped up and reached the target from the last ball of the match to qualify for the final against New Zealand. Australia won by six wickets with the dropped Poulton watching from the sidelines. She ended the series with 35 runs at 11.66 with a strike rate of only 33.65, was then overlooked for the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand held in Darwin in July.
International omission and recall
Poulton struggled in the eight WNCL matches during the 2007–08 season, scoring 106 runs at 13.25 with a best of 39 against Western Australia. She took her best bowling figures at senior level, claiming 3/10 in the second match against Western Australia. Poulton captured three lower-order wickets in quick succession as Western Australia lost 4/10 to be all out for 141. However, Poulton was then bowled for a golden duck from the first ball of the innings from
Lauren Ebsary
Lauren Kaye Ebsary (born 15 March 1983) is an Australian cricketer. Primarily a batter, she is a former member of the Australia national women's cricket team.
Ebsary made her senior debut for South Australia in the Women's National Cricket Le ...
as New South Wales lost the match by 37 runs. Poulton ended the season with four wickets at 8.75 at an economy rate of 3.75. New South Wales reached the final and were awarded the title because they placed first in the qualifying matches after rain washed out the deciding game without a ball being bowled. She also played in two
Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...
interstate matches, top-scoring with 69 in the first match against South Australia, before making 35 against Western Australia; New South Wales won both games. After her poor WNCL season, Poulton was overlooked for Australian selection for the home series against England and then the Rose Bowl tour of New Zealand that followed.
During the Australian winter of 2008, Poulton travelled to England and played for
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...
in the
Women's County Championship
The Women's County Championship, known since 2014 as the Royal London Women’s One-Day Cup,Sussex and ended her stay with 150 runs at 25.00 from six matches. She bowled 20.4 overs for the county, taking a total of 0/95. She was in better form for the
Sapphires
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphir ...
in the
Super Fours
The Super Fours was a women's limited overs cricket competition which was played annually in England between 2002 and 2013, with a break in 2009 and 2010. Designed to bring together the leading 48 players in English women's cricket, it originall ...
, scoring three half-centuries in four innings and ending with 215 runs at 53.75 in four List A matches. She also top-scored in both T20 matches for the Sapphires, making 32 and 47. She also took 2/23 in the latter match, dismissing
Jenny Gunn
Jennifer Louise Gunn (born 9 May 1986) is an English former cricketer who plays as a right-arm medium bowler and right-handed batter. She appeared in 11 Test matches, 144 One Day Internationals and 104 Twenty20 Internationals for England bet ...
and
Laura Marsh
Laura Alexandra Marsh (born 5 December 1986) is an English former cricketer. Born in Pembury, Kent, she began playing cricket at 11 and started her career as a medium pace bowler but found greater success when she switched to off spin. She playe ...
.
These performances earned Poulton a recall for the five-match home ODI series against India ahead of the 2008–09 Australian season, which the hosts swept easily; the margins of victory in each match were at least 54 runs or seven wickets. After making a duck in the T20 international that preceded the ODIs, Poulton played in the first four ODIs. She scored 79 runs at 26.33 but scored at the slow strike rate of 47.87. This resulted in her being dropped down the order from an opening position for the fourth match; her teammates reached the victory target before she was required and she was then omitted for the final match. Poulton took her maiden international wicket in the fourth match at
Manuka Oval
Manuka Oval is a sporting venue in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is located in Griffith, in the area of that suburb known as Manuka. Manuka Oval has a seating capacity of 13,550 people and an overall capacity of 16,000 people, althoug ...
wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...
Anagha Deshpande
Anagha Arun Deshpande (born 19 November 1985 in Solapur, Maharashtra) is a cricketer who has played in 20 women's One Day Internationals and seven Twenty20 internationals for India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a ...
lbw. She ended the series with a total of 1/63.
Poulton had her most productive season in the WNCL in 2008–09 ahead of the 2009 World Cup, scoring 376 runs at 41.77. She posted two half-centuries in the first four matches, resulting in eight-wicket wins over Queensland and Western Australia respectively. She then made fifties in each of the last three round-robin matches. This included 60 and 53 against Victoria in the last two games, which New South Wales won win by nine and three wickets respectively. New South Wales thus earned the right to host the final against the same team, and Poulton made 43 as they chased down 118 and won the title by six wickets. Poulton totalled 0/48 from 11 overs during the WNCL. She also played in two
Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...
interstate matches, scoring 23 and 35. New South Wales won the first before losing by one wicket to Victoria in the second.
World Cup
Australia toured New Zealand before the World Cup, and Poulton was dropped into the middle-order. She made four in the first two matches, both of which the hosts won. She struggled in these matches, taking 15 and 18 balls to score the four runs in either ODI, was omitted for the third match. She then returned to her customary opening position and scored 81 from 97 balls, including 11 fours, in the fourth match, helping to set up an Australia victory by 44 runs. The fifth match of the series was abandoned.
In two warm-up matches ahead of the World Cup in Australia, Poulton made 24 and 49 against England and Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, she was left out of the team for the opening match against New Zealand, which Australia lost. Poulton was recalled for the two remaining group matches against
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
and the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
. The hosts won both matches to reach the next round, but Poulton struggled. Playing out of position in the middle-order, she made nine from 21 balls against South Africa in her home town of Newcastle; restored to the top of the order, she made a duck against the West Indies. Poulton was then dropped for Australia's first match of the next phase against India, which they lost. She was recalled for the next match and scored 47 against
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
, putting on 100 for the first wicket with
Shelley Nitschke
Shelley Nitschke (born 3 December 1976) is a female cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. A left-handed batter and left arm orthodox spinner, she was one of the leading all-rounders in the world until her retirement in 2011. In ...
before the latter was
bowled
In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman.
Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (Th ...
. Poulton was then bowled herself, the third time in as many ODIs that she had been dismissed in such a manner. Australia reached 6/229 in their 50 overs, and Poulton then took 2/9, claiming the lower-order wickets of
Javeria Khan
Javeria Khan Wadood ( ur, جویریہ خان) (born 14 May 1988) is a Pakistani cricketer who plays as an all-rounder, batting right-handed and bowling right-arm off break. She has played international cricket for Pakistan since 2008. She has ...
and Qanita Jalil as the hosts won by 107 runs. She then hit 38 from 47 balls, including a
six
6 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
6 or six may also refer to:
* AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era
* 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era
* The month of June
Science
* Carbon, the element with atomic number 6
* 6 Hebe, an asteroid
People ...
, in the final Super Six match against England. This helped set up Australia's successful run-chase but it was not enough to rank them among the top two nations and qualify them for the final. They faced India in the playoff for third place and Poulton was bowled by
Jhulan Goswami
Jhulan Nishit Goswami (born 25 November 1982) is an Indian cricketer. She plays as a right-arm medium fast bowler and right-handed batter. She is one of the fastest (female) bowler of all times and considered one of the greatest bowlers to ...
for a duck. The hosts were all out for 142 and India reached the target with three wickets in hand. Poulton ended her campaign with 94 runs at 18.80 and took a total of 2/17 from five overs.
Poulton was selected for the
2009 World Twenty20
The 2009 ICC World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that took place in England in June 2009. It was the second ICC World Twenty20 tournament, following the inaugural ...
in
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 ...
and Australia hosted New Zealand for three T20 matches in tropical
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
during the southern hemisphere winter before the teams departed for the tournament. Poulton scored 4, 33 and 30 as Australia took the series 2–1. Once the Australians were in England, Poulton top-scored with 66 and took 1/7 against the hosts in her only innings in the pre-tournament practice matches. Poulton made only two and eight in Australia's first two pool matches against New Zealand and the West Indies; Australia lost the first by nine wickets and won the second by eight wickets. In the final pool match, against South Africa, Australia needed a victory to progress. Batting first, she scored 22 before being
run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket.
A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket be ...
as Australia made 6/164 from their 20 overs. In reply, South Africa were on track to reach the target, having reached 0/73 after seven overs. Poulton trapped
Shandre Fritz
Shandre Alvida Fritz (born 21 July 1985) is a South African former cricketer and current match referee. She played as a right-handed batter and right-arm medium bowler. She appeared in 59 One Day Internationals and 26 Twenty20 Internationals fo ...
for 39 with the first ball of the next over, and the South Africans lost momentum, scoring only 41 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the next ten overs. On the last ball of the 17th over, Poulton trapped opposition captain Sunette Loubser and ended with 2/20 from three overs as Australia prevailed by 24 runs to reach the semi-finals, where they faced England. Poulton scored 39 to push Australia to 5/163 but the hosts reached the target with eight wickets in hand and progressed to the final, which they won.
Test debut
Australia stayed in England for a bilateral series against the hosts—the reigning world champions in both ODIs and T20s—after the end of the World Twenty20. Poulton scored 33 and took two catches as Australia upset England in the only T20 by 34 runs. She played in all of the five ODIs, but was not successful, being dismissed for single-digit scores every time and ending with 26 runs at 5.20. She struggled to make an effective start in the matches, with a strike rate of 35.00 or less in each of her five innings and 29.54 overall. England won all the matches except the last, which was ended by persistent rain. Poulton made her Test debut against England in a one-off match at New Road in
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
. Australia batted first and Poulton came in at No. 6. She lasted only 14 balls before being bowled by paceman
Katherine Brunt
Katherine Helen Brunt (born 2 July 1985) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Yorkshire Women cricket team, Yorkshire, Northern Diamonds, Trent Rockets and England women's cricket team, England. She plays as a right-arm Fast bowling, ...
for 1. This was part of a batting collapse that left the tourists at 5/28, but they recovered to reach 309. Poulton then bowled four overs in the first innings, taking 0/15. She took her first catch in Tests, removing
Claire Taylor
Samantha Claire Taylor (born 25 September 1975) is a former cricketer who represented England more than 150 times between 1998 and 2011. A top order batter,In women's cricket, "batsman" is commonly used, alongside "batter". Taylor was the f ...
from the bowling of
Lauren Ebsary
Lauren Kaye Ebsary (born 15 March 1983) is an Australian cricketer. Primarily a batter, she is a former member of the Australia national women's cricket team.
Ebsary made her senior debut for South Australia in the Women's National Cricket Le ...
. Australia took a 41-run lead and Poulton then scored 23 from 41 balls before being run out as the match ended in a draw. Poulton is the 158th woman to play Test cricket for Australia.
Poulton had a modest WNCL in 2009–10, scoring 215 runs at 21.50. She reached double figures in nine of 11 innings, but was unable to convert the starts into large scores. Her highest score for the season was 42 against the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...
. She made 31, her second best effort of the competition, in the final, as New South Wales defeated Victoria by 59 runs to take their fifth WNCL title in a row. She had more success in the new T20 domestic competition, scoring 201 runs at 28.71. She top-scored with 58 in a seven-run defeat at the hands of Victoria and then made 38 in a nine-wicket win over South Australia. However, she made only six in the final as Victoria dismissed New South Wales for 75 to win by 52 runs.
After the domestic competition ended, Poulton played in the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand. She was omitted from the first two ODIs at the
Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby le ...
before being recalled for the last three matches held at the
Junction Oval
Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The oval's location near the St Kilda Jun ...
in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
;
Rachael Haynes
Rachael Louise Haynes (born 26 December, 1986) is an Australian former international cricketer who has won six world championships as a member of the national women's team. A left-handed batter, Haynes was vice-captain of Australia from 2017 to ...
was moved from an opening position into the middle-order to make way for Poulton. After making a duck in her first innings back, Poulton struck an unbeaten 104 from 116 balls in the fourth match, hitting nine fours and three sixes, putting on an unbroken opening stand of 163 with
Shelley Nitschke
Shelley Nitschke (born 3 December 1976) is a female cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. A left-handed batter and left arm orthodox spinner, she was one of the leading all-rounders in the world until her retirement in 2011. In ...
as the Australians won by ten wickets. She made seven in the final match as the Australians completed a 5–0 sweep of the home ODI leg of the series. Poulton had little success in the T20s in Australia, scoring 0, 24 and 1 as the tourists bounced back to claim a whitewash. She then scored only one in the first T20 during the New Zealand leg of the tour and was left out for the second match, which the hosts won to sweep the T20s. Poulton played in all three ODIs in New Zealand, scoring 7, 47 and 31 as the Australians again swept the 50-over matches. In the second match at
Invercargill
Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...
, she struck seven boundaries in her 54-ball innings to help Australia make a rapid start to their chase of 256. In the final match, Australia faced a target of only 174 and Poulton hit 28 of her 31 runs from fours in a 16-ball innings, scoring almost two runs per ball. Australia won both of the last two matches by six wickets.
2010 World Twenty20 triumph
Poulton was selected for the
2010 World Twenty20
The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fin ...
in the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and played in every match. With the selection of
Elyse Villani
Elyse Jayne Villani (born 6 October 1989) is an Australian cricketer 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 (WNCL ...
to open with Nitschke, Poulton batted at No. 3 in all but one match. In the first warm-up match, she scored one from six balls before being dismissed by
Sian Ruck
Sian Elizabeth Ansley Ruck is a New Zealand former cricketer who played as a left-arm medium bowler. She appeared in 27 One Day Internationals and 37 Twenty20 Internationals for New Zealand between 2009 and 2013. She played domestic cricket for ...
as Australia lost to New Zealand by 18 runs. In the last warm-up match, she hammered 44 from 21 balls including two sixes and then took a catch to remove Armaan Khan as Australians made 5/166 and defeated
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
by 82 runs.
Australia were grouped with England, South Africa and the West Indies. In the first match against England, Poulton ran out
Laura Marsh
Laura Alexandra Marsh (born 5 December 1986) is an English former cricketer. Born in Pembury, Kent, she began playing cricket at 11 and started her career as a medium pace bowler but found greater success when she switched to off spin. She playe ...
, triggering the loss of the last four wickets without the addition of a run, in six balls, leaving 15 deliveries unused. In pursuit of 105 for victory, Poulton top-scored for Australia with 23 from 28 balls, helping to stabilise the innings after the Australians had fallen to 2/10. However, she fell at 4/45, bowled by
Holly Colvin
Holly Louise Colvin (born 7 September 1989) is an English former cricketer who played as a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and right-handed batter. She appeared in five Test matches, 72 One Day Internationals and 50 Twenty20 Internationals for ...
, and eventually,
Rene Farrell
Rene Farrell (born 13 January 1987) is an Australian cricketer. A fast-medium pace bowler, she is a current member of the Australian team. On 1 December 2019, Farrell announced her retirement from Women's Big Bash League.
Although Farrell ...
was
run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket.
A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket be ...
going for the winning run from the third last ball available, leaving the scores tied.
A Super Over eventuated, and Marsh bowled for England. Farrell and Poulton batted for Australia. Poulton scored a single off the first ball she faced, before being caught by Colvin on the fourth ball. This left Australia at 1/4 and they ended at 2/6. England also ended with 2/6 after a run out in an attempt to secure the winning run on the final ball. Australia was awarded the match because they had hit more sixes in the match—
Jess Cameron
Jessica Evelyn Duffin (; born 27 June 1989) is an Australian sportswoman. In cricket, she has made 117 international appearances and won four world championships as a member of the Australia women's national cricket team, Australian women's te ...
scored the solitary six.
In the next match against South Africa, Poulton came in at 1/9 after the fall of Villani at the end of the first over. She counter-attacked with Nitschke, scoring 39 runs herself from only 25 balls, including two sixes. The pair put on 58 from only 37 balls before Poulton was caught from the first ball of the eighth over. Australia collapsed and lost 6/16 including the last four wickets for four runs to be all out for 155 with three balls unused, before completing a 22-run win. In the final group match against the West Indies, Poulton came in at 1/33 and hit 15 from 13 balls, including three fours. Australia finished on 7/133 and won by nine runs to finish the group stage unbeaten at the top of their quartet.
Australia went on to face
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
in the semi-final. Chasing a target of 120, Poulton came in to join captain Blackwell—who had promoted herself up the order—at 2/75, with 45 runs needed from 56 balls. Poulton hit 30 from 26 balls to seal an Australian victory with seven wickets and seven balls to spare. She brought up the winning runs with a lofted drive that bounced once before going for four runs. In the final against New Zealand, Australia started poorly after electing to bat. Nitschke fell in the third over to bring Poulton in at 1/10, before Villani and Blackwell fell quickly to leave Australia at 3/20 in the sixth over. This was followed by a consolidating partnership of 30 between Poulton and Cameron, but they were unable to lift the
run rate
In cricket, the run rate (RR), or runs per over (RPO), is the average number of runs a batting side scores per over. It includes all runs made by the batting side in the innings to that point of the game, both the runs scored by the batsmen an ...
substantially; their stand took 45 balls. Poulton was caught trying to loft a ball over cover, and two balls later, Cameron was bowled, leaving Australia at 5/51 in the 13th over. Only Poulton managed a solitary boundary. A later burst took Australia to 8/106 from their 20 overs and Poulton ended with the highest score of 20 from 28 balls. The Australians then restricted New Zealand to 6/103 to complete a three-run win. Poulton was Australian's highest run-scorer for the tournament and the third among all players.
One Day International centuries
Post-retirement
Poulton was the assistant coach of
Sydney Thunder
The Sydney Thunder are an Australian franchise professional cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League. Along with the Sydney Sixers, the Thunder are the successors of the New South Wal ...
when they won their maiden title in 2015-16 season. She continued to be involve with New South Wales after her retirement as the Female Pathway Breaker and then the assistant coach of New South Wales women's team. She later moved to the
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 ...
's high-performance centre and coached the women's teams of Australia A, Australia Under-19s and Australia Under-15s. She oversaw for introduction of the Under-19 and A team programmes, and the first overseas tour of both the teams. In March 2020, Poulton was named as the head coach of
Melbourne Stars
The Melbourne Stars are an Australian Twenty20 franchise cricket team, based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in Australia's Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. The Stars wear a green uniform and play their home matches at the Melb ...
in
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 ...
. Less than a month later, she resigned from the job and was appointed as the head of female cricket at
Cricket NSW
Cricket NSW (officially known as the ''New South Wales Cricket Association'') is an Australian sporting association that administers cricket in New South Wales. It is based at the Sydney Olympic Park. The New South Wales Blues, the New South ...
.
Personal life
Poulton's partner is current Australia cricketer
Rachael Haynes
Rachael Louise Haynes (born 26 December, 1986) is an Australian former international cricketer who has won six world championships as a member of the national women's team. A left-handed batter, Haynes was vice-captain of Australia from 2017 to ...
. Poulton gave birth to their first child, Hugo Poulton-Haynes, in October 2021.
See also
*
List of centuries in women's One Day International cricket
A women's One Day International (WODI) is an international cricket match between two teams, each having WODI status, as determined by the International Cricket Council (ICC). In a WODI match, the two teams play a single innings, each of which ...