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It was 50 years ago, but former Australian cricketer Lorraine Hill still remembers exactly what she said to her teammate right before they touched down in London.<\/p>\n
It was 1973, and the Australian team aboard that Qantas flight would soon be making history by competing in cricket\u2019s first-ever World Cup, preceding the men\u2019s tournament by two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sitting next to [teammate] Raelee Thompson, and I had a tear in my eye,\u201d the 76-year-old said. \u201cI still remember saying to her \u2018I don\u2019t feel I belong here\u2019. I was just so, so excited and overwhelmed by it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Former Australian World Cup cricketer Margaret Jennings, Ellyse Perry of Australia and junior fan Annabel Archer pose for a photograph with the ICC World Cup, Ashes and ICC T20 trophies. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n The conditions they faced were a far cry from the treatment that today\u2019s stars, like Ellyse Perry, receive: The \u201973 team paid their own way there, they were barred from the Lord\u2019s pavilion, and they were responsible for scoring their own matches. Along with their airfare, the team paid for all their costs \u2013 including uniforms, shoes, and food.<\/p>\n Marg Jennings was a wondrous wicketkeeper and opening batter.<\/span><\/p>\n Cricket hall of famer Margaret Jennings, one of Hill\u2019s teammates for that \u201973 World Cup, recalled the sparse press coverage of the tournament; \u201cThere was a little bit of hesitancy \u2013 \u2018can these women play,\u2019 you know, that sort of thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t something that bothered the players too much. They just wanted the chance to prove themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea that we weren\u2019t being treated being as equal didn\u2019t, at that stage, cause us a great deal of concern. We just thought, \u2018we\u2019ve got to keep going to ensure that it continues\u2019,\u201d the now 74-year-old said.<\/p>\n Jennings later became a national selector who played a key role in Perry\u2019s early days in Australian colours.<\/p>\n Perry, who has long been one of the stars of the modern era of women\u2019s cricket, paid tribute to Jennings\u2019 group this week. Jennings, Hill and their surviving teammates will be boundary-side watching on Thursday as Australia takes on the West Indies at the Junction Oval in the second match of their one-day international series.<\/p>\n \u201cThey paved the way for us,\u201d Perry said of Jennings\u2019 group.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful – I think it\u2019s really significant,\u201d she said, highlighting just how far the women\u2019s game has come since.<\/p>\n The history-making tournament 50 years ago was the brainchild of then-England captain Rachael Heyhoe Flint, who convinced multi-millionaire Jack Hayward to fund the 21-match round-robin tournament.<\/p>\n \u201cI love cricket, I love women, why shouldn\u2019t I sponsor women\u2019s cricket?,\u201d was Hayward\u2019s reported response to Flint\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n Held across venues between June and July, seven teams participated in the competition: England, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Young England, and an International XI team. South Africa, in the midst of apartheid, were not invited.<\/p>\n The inaugural World Cup team. Pictured are: Sharon Tredrea, Margaret Jennings, Raelee Thompson, Lorna Thomas (Manager), Lorraine Hill, Patsy May, Bev Wilson. Front left to right: Dawn Rae, Tina Macpherson, Jackie Potter, Elaine Bray, Miriam Knee (captain), Wendy Blunsden, Lesley Johnston, Wendy Weir.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Cricket Australia<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, I don\u2019t think we grasped the situation that we were the first to do it. I guess it was when the men, at their first one in 1975, we realised we were \u2013 in inverted commas \u2013 trailblazers,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a coach back in those days … We had to think for ourselves. We had to locate launderettes to do our washing.\u201d<\/p>\n The women were allowed to train at Lord\u2019s, but were outcast to the nursery, rather than being allowed in the pavilion. A headline of the women at the Home of Cricket read: \u201cGrace turns up at Lord\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n Hill has kept other headlines from the tournament in a scrapbook: \u201cBowling the maidens over,\u201d one paper ran. \u201cLords and ladies \u2013 what next? Until now a staid male bastion has fallen to women\u2019s league,\u201d read another.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t condescending, but it was getting close to being condescending,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n In the end, the Australian side finished runner-up to England, who won by 92 runs at Edgbaston. Princess Anne was in attendance, and presented the cup to Heyhoe Flint.<\/p>\n The players from that era don\u2019t despair over what could\u2019ve been if they were able to play in the same conditions as today\u2019s Australian team.<\/p>\n \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t swap for it for quids because the enjoyment was still in it. Instead of a cool down where these kids [referring to today\u2019s cricketers] have to go in the ice baths, we used to go have a drink at the bar,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n Hill feels similarly. \u201cI would love all the training that [the players] do now, the only thing I couldn\u2019t cope with is the ice baths.\u201d<\/p>\n All the while, the professionalisation of women\u2019s cricket happened faster than Jennings anticipated.<\/p>\n Her cricketing career has been extensive; the Test centurion having been a World Cup winner, captain of Australia, and a long-time selector. But her greatest memory is from last year, watching the ICC Women\u2019s T20 World Cup final at a packed MCG.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember James Sutherland [the former Cricket Australia boss] was in front of me, and turned around and said: \u2018Did you ever think you\u2019d see this Marg?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said \u2018no, I often wished, but never thought it could happen.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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