SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Belinda Clark has become the first female cricketer to have a statue cast in her honour, a bronze sculpture of the trailblazing former captain unveiled outside Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
Clark played 15 tests and over 100 limited overs matches between 1991-2005, and became the first cricketer to score a double-hundred in one-day internationals when she made an unbeaten 229 against Denmark in 1997.
The 52-year-old’s statue stands alongside former captains Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh at the ground.
“I’m excited to have the sculpture in place and for people to now look at it and perhaps wonder … who that is and to be able to tell a bit of a story is really important,” said Clark, who has held senior roles with Australia’s cricket board since retiring.
“The sculpture encapsulates being able to have a go – to be courageous, to take on those challenges and break convention.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
