Dinesh moved from India originally to play cricket in Malaysia and in the manner of dreams come true, liked the country and the people so much that he stayed! He commenced working for the MCA as a Development Officer in 2009, moved his way up through the ranks and was appointed CEO in 2023. Dinesh has a strong ambition to see Malaysian cricket–both male and female teams qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup within the next three years.

We have a wonderful discussion around the structure of cricket in Malaysia, what the MCA is doing to promote cricket in schools for boys and girls, the support provided by the MCA to help them further their education, the hosting of the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup in January this year.

Finally, Dinesh talks about the recent appointment of the highly successful coach, former Victorian and Australian player Dav Whatmore as the MCA’s Director of Cricket and National Coach of the Women’s team.

Dr Sarah Fane OBE studied medicine at Bristol University and during this time travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan and again to Afghanistan in 2001 under the Taliban Regime. In 2002, Sarah established the charity, Afghan Connection which subsequently supported some 500,000 children with health, education and cricket including the renovation of 130 schools and the construction of 110 cricket pitches in schools and disability centres.

In 2020, Sarah accepted a newly created role of Director of the MCC Foundation, based at Lords.

We have an enthralling discussion about her time in Afghanistan, the wonderful work of her charity and now the passion she has brought to the MCC Foundation helping children not only in England but around the world in countries like Nepal, Lebanon, East Africa, Sri Lanka and South Africa.  

Sarah is also an honorary Life Member of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

MCC Foundation website

Bhavi was born in Zimbabwe in a family of Indian origin and encountered a range of cultural experiences just to be able to play the game. 

She represented WA and the Perth Scorchers before moving to Melbourne to join the Melbourne Stars and Victoria and in so doing represented the Ringwood Cricket Club, twice winning the Una Paisley Medal for the best player in the Cricket Victoria Women’s Premier Competition.

After three years in Melbourne, Bhavi returned to Perth and founded her own business, The Inside Edge Project, working with athletes and teams creating culturally-aware, psychologically safe spaces for growth.

Harry spent almost 30 years with the Australian Defence Force most of which was with Australia’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) as a Team Commander and Team Specialist.

He completed 11 active service deployments and was wounded in action in 2008.

Harry now runs a human performance consultancy working with sports teams (including Collingwood FC), the military and industry.

In 2020, he released his memoir, titled “Eleven Bats”, a book about his military service and his love of cricket and described by ABC Cricket Commentator Jim Maxwell as “ a compelling story of combat, survival and backyard cricket in a war zone.”

In a wonderful discussion across many subjects we also hear about the Eleven Bats that are now on display in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Alana is widely-regarded as the best leg spin bowler in world cricket today (male or female) and has drawn comparisons with the great Shane Warne.

Growing up in Melbourne, Alana was a very talented young sportswoman excelling in tennis, softball, baseball and cricket.

Fortunately, she chose cricket as her primary sport and you'll hear about her journey in the sport from club cricket, to her first professional contract at aged 16 representing Victoria, Western Australia, Australia and various overseas franchise teams.

Along the way, Alana toured with Cricket Without Borders on a number of occasions and we also learn a little about some of her experiences and the impact of CWOB on her career.

Emma is a long-time friend of Cricket Without Borders (CWOB) of many years and who was one of the key people instrumental in securing the evacuation of the Afghan Women Cricketers and some officials in 2021 following the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021.

She also worked very closely with CWOB around the organisation of the historic cricket match on the 30th January between the Afghani Women and Cricket Without Borders .

Emma has had a long career working in the sports industry and along with Mel Jones co-founded “Its Game On” in December 2021. She is a strong advocate for the development of gender inclusive strategies in sport and again with Mel Jones is a strong advocate for “Pitch Our Future” which aims to raise $1.5 million to fund an initial 3-year program to assist the Afghani cricketers and their families with educational scholarships and specialised coaching support.        

Donate to Pitch Our Future here

Louise has done it all in the game of cricket and more! We hear about her wonderful career that began at school and then progressed to represent her State(s) and country but that was not enough as she has given back to the sport as an administrator and now pursuing a career in umpiring. 

In between all of her cricket career Lousie has also served in the police force and the Army Reserve including a tour of duty in Afghanistan which we hear about. 

Louise now works for Tennis Australia in their Integrity Unit which we also learn about in a fascinating chat.         

Aymen is an award –winning multilingual sports journalist, commentator and presenter based in London. 

She has won numerous awards and was named the NCTJ Sports Journalist of the Year in 2023 for her exclusive report in the Telegraph writing about how women were affected by English cricket’s racism scandal. Her work has appeared in BBC Sport, The Telegraph, Wisden, The Times and more and Aymen currently works for Sky Sports.

Ayment recently made the trip from London to cover Cricket Without Borders historic match against an Afghani Women’s Eleven played here in Melbourne on the 30th January.   

Cricket Without Borders and Chelsea have a very strong connection dating back to 2012 when Chelsea joined us on a tour to Singapore and she has remained as somewhat of a constant with us as a player and coach ever since.

This is a wonderful discussion as we hear about her cricket journey from her start on a dairy farm in Leongatha to playing in an all boys team, to Dandenong CC, her travels with CWOB which have also taken her to Japan, back to Australia and then a career move to the ACT working with Cricket ACT and playing with the ACT Meteors and then a brief look into what the future may hold for Chelsea.  

A sports lawyer by background, Lydia has transitioned into sport management and apart from her current role has held senior roles in professional, semi-professional and community sport in football (soccer) and AFL while also having held senior government roles in state event corporations in both Victoria and Western Australia.

Throughout her professional life Lydia has also maintained lecturing positions in sport law and sport management in a number of universities and is also an active member of the Australian & New Zealand Sports Law Association.

Lydia is also currently a Director of Cricket Victoria and Bowls Australia.