Cricket Without Borders

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.

Jennie grew up in a cricket-loving family in Bowral, where Sir Donald Bradman grew up as a young boy and although not playing the game she always had an interest in the sport. However, it was later in life when her own daughter, Bianca started playing U11’s that Jennie really started to get involved in the administration of the sport and helped establish a girls team at her local club Drysdale CC before heading to the Geelong CC in Cricket Victoria’s Premier Cricket Competition to help the Club with its ambition of having their own girls/women’s teams in the Premier Competition.

Within a few short years Jennie, an excellent organiser with a sharp eye for detail and a strategic thinker, joined the Club’s committee, was then appointed Secretary – this soon morphed into a Vice President’s role and prior to the current season was elected President of the Geelong CC! 

There have been a few hurdles to jump for the Club along the way but it is clear in the discussion with Jennie that her passion for the sport and the growth of women’s cricket will definitely ensure sustainable success for the Club in the future. 

Links:
Geelong Cricket Club website
Cricket Without Borders website

Sheila is the co-founder and first CEO of Sport Environment Alliance but that is just part of her outstanding contribution around growing the awareness and introducing strategies and plans around sustainability in sport to ensure a healthier planet and happy people!

This includes presenting at a number of international Sustainability Leaders conferences  and last year Sheila was Head of Sustainability for the FIFA Women’s World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand.

Sheila has recently established her own business “ Happy Planet People “    

Happy Planet People

We also have a fascinating discussion about early childhood growing up as a child of hardworking refugee parents and some of the valuable lessons about life passed on to her by her parents. 

Megan is the granddaughter of the great Victorian and Australian batsman Bill Ponsford after whom a grandstand is named at the MCG.

She is a Ponsford and proud of it!

Megan is also the author of two books, one a photographic record of the Melbourne Cricket Ground including some wonderful behind the scenes areas that are not generally seen by the public and the other titled “The HAS-BEENs and NEVER-WILL-BE's, A boys own adventure of Australian cricket and the Raj“ is a fascinating insight into Australia’s first cricket tour to India in 1935/36 albeit an official tour.

We chat, of course, about Megan’s grandfather and her publications and current projects.