Roberta de Melo Moretti Avery (born 9 July 1985) is a Brazilian

cricket 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 str ...

er and the captain of the national women's cricket team.

Career

Early life and career

Moretti was born in Poços de Caldas,

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

as part of a sporting family: her parents played

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

. She initially played golf in her hometown, until the age of 16, being part of Brazilian team for the Youth South American team, in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

2000 competition. She then spent some time in the UK, before returning to Brazil in 2010. During her brief stay in UK, she approached Liam Cook and asked him to conduct few coaching sessions for her. Her alternative sport was handball, as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Poços de Caldas team until the age of 17. Moretti did not play cricket until the age of 27, when she was invited by her spouse to join the soft ball league, playing alongside the first participants from Confederação Brasileira de Cricket development program. She was inspired to pursue her interest in the sport of cricket due to her husband's involvement in cricket projects. She was part of Cricket Poços team on the first Brazilian Women's National league, in 2013 and subsequently selected as part of the Brazilian Women's National squad in 2014, making her debut in April 2014. In addition, she also runs a fruit export business in Brazil. She currently holds a key position as an administrator at Cricket Brasil. She also teaches the sport to kids in different schools during her spare time and also regarded as a fitness fanatic as she trains at least four hours per day at the high-performance centre.

International career

In 2014, Moretti was selected to be part of the national women's cricket team in Brazil. She was the first cricketer for Brazil, male or female, to score a century in a

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 ...

match. Moretti had her breakthrough in golf in 2017, after being top 5 on National Ranking and selected for the Brazilian team for the Copa Los Andes, in Bolívia, and Copa Srta. Fay Crocker, in Uruguay, in 2017. She was also part of the Brazilian doubles on Taça Pee-Wee, played in São Fernando Golf Club,

Cotia Cotia is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 253,608 (2020 est.) in an area of 323.99 km². The city is at an elevation of 853 m. Cotia is linked with t ...

. Moretti retired from competitive golf in July 2018. In March 2017, Moretti was named captain of Brazil's squad ahead of the Iguassu Cup, a bilateral tour played against Argentina. As an allusion to her relatively mature age and leading status in Brazilian cricket, she has been

nicknamed 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 ...

"Big Mom". She was also invited to be a part of the CanAm team on Philadelphia Cricket Festival, captained by

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 ...

in that year. CanAm was the only women's team in the men's competition. Moretti made her WT20I debut for Brazil on 23 August 2018, against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, in the opening fixture of the

2018 South American Women's Cricket Championship The 2018 South American Women's Cricket Championship was held in Colombia from 23 to 26 August. The four teams that participated this year were the women's sides of Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. This was the first time in the tournament's h ...

. In the summer of 2019, she trained in the United Kingdom at Bexley Cricket Club. In October 2019, Brazil women won the 2019 South American Cricket Championship, with Moretti finishing as the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 116 runs in five matches. In April 2021, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Moretti took to social media to discuss mental health issues during the pandemic. The following month, she was one of forty women selected to be mentored for the ICC 100% Cricket Future Leaders Programme.

References

External links

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Noughtie Child Podcast: Season 8 Episode 1 (4 December 2021)
– includes interview of Roberta Moretti Avery {{DEFAULTSORT:Moretti Avery, Roberta 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Minas Gerais Brazilian women cricketers Brazil women Twenty20 International cricketers Women cricket captains