In partnership with Toyota. <\/p>\n
She has gone from catering for Pakistan legend Wasim Akram to helping spearhead North West Tasmania’s thriving women’s cricket scene.<\/p>\n
So when Susan Underwood was awarded a cherished Devonport Cricket Club life membership last year, it was laced with a bow of inevitability.<\/p>\n
Much of Underwood’s adult life has been spent serving the club. She celebrated her 21st birthday there, around the same time the Pakistan team ventured to Devonport for a tour match against Tasmania’s Sheffield Shield outfit.<\/p>\n
Ramiz Raja, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Imran Khan all lined up alongside Akram for the three-day clash. A week after that match, Pakistan was in New Zealand on their way to a 1992 World Cup triumph.<\/p>\n
“Back in those days they had Sheffield Shield games at the oval and Pakistan would come and play games, and Zimbabwe would come and play games,” Underwood said.<\/p>\n
“We would cater for those games, they would come and play against Tassie.”<\/p>\n
Three summers later Zimbabwe played at Devonport against a Tasmanian side captained by David Boon, and featuring a fresh-faced Ricky Ponting.<\/p>\n
Back then Underwood pursued administrative duties, as there was no option for her to play the game.<\/p>\n
That possibility didn’t materialise until the 2012-13 season, two decades after she’d celebrated her 21st birthday at the club.<\/p>\n
“Cricket North West was getting a women’s comp so John Sales from Devonport wanted to get a women’s team happening, it was a lot of wives, school friends, sisters etc,” Underwood said.<\/p>\n
“We only lasted for one year and then the people had babies and it just kind of didn’t happen.”<\/p>\n
A few years later Underwood was asked by Cricket North West, where she now sits on the board, to start a junior girls team at Devonport.<\/p>\n
When that proved successful, a three-year plan was put in place to reinstate the senior women’s team.<\/p>\n
“We needed to have a pathway for those girls, if they’re playing juniors, they need to have somewhere to go afterwards,” Underwood said.<\/p>\n
“There was a lot of begging, pleading, asking people to play, I played hockey so I did a lot of asking around there who wants to play.<\/p>\n
“We had some gala days. I twisted the arm of people that I work with, and got some of the old wives back in. That was around the 2018-19 season and we’ve been going ever since.<\/p>\n
“From that we now have a second-grade team, and two female social league teams.”<\/p>\n
This social women’s league is what defines Underwood’s legacy.<\/p>\n
Since its inception female participation in Tasmania’s North West has swelled to roughly 200 players, from zero less than 15 years ago.<\/p>\n
It’s a modified version of the game, offering a less competitive outlet for existing players while teaching newcomers the finer points of cricket.<\/p>\n
“I love the social league, it’s modified rules played on a Friday night for the girls, it’s 16 overs – they start at six, they normally finish by 7.45,” Underwood said.<\/p>\n
“They only bowl six balls, if they’re all wides, they’re all wides. They face 12 balls regardless of whether they get out, if they get out they just go up the other end.<\/p>\n
“They’re having a go. There’s not much fun if you face a ball and you get out, social league is really a first step for them to have a go, and they all have a bowl.<\/p>\n
“At least four of the girls that are playing first grade now have come from social league origins.”<\/p>\n
Her life membership award now sits proudly alongside the Devonport Diamond she received two years earlier – an honour bestowed to her by the city for community achievement.<\/p>\n
“I do it because I love the game and I love the club and I’ve met some wonderful people,” Underwood said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve made lifelong friends from being down there.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In partnership with Toyota. She has gone from catering for Pakistan legend Wasim Akram to helping spearhead North…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-536263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}