Description

Hardback, new

In 1874, John Rae, a Bendigo schoolmaster, approached the Sandhurst Easter Fair Committee with an idea to draw the crowds: a novelty ladies’ cricket match – something Australia had never seen before. And here begins the story of women’s cricket in Australia.

Bowl the Maidens Over presents the factual account of the very first women’s matches from the selection of uniforms, to mentoring by the prestigious Bendigo United Cricket Club, to their ceremonial arrival at the Easter Fair to the during and post-match critiques.

The story is told through the media’s lens and provides insights into the tumultuous road the cricketers travelled, just in order to play. 6 It was a charity match raising funds for the Bendigo hospital and asylum. The book follows the women players – and the members of the Rae family, pivotal in the establishment and organisation of the matches – from the first advertisement in the paper to the media storm that ensued post-game, linking to a present-day connection to an Australian sportswoman.

As told through media reports of the times, this illustrated book visits those first matches and the public’s response. The illustrations give an added dimension to the story, and the extracts from the newspapers give an insight into the public’s mind. Prior published work about Australian women’s cricket has only offered a short mention of the game. This book expands on those mentions and plays tribute to the early women cricketers.

There are names in this book cricket history fans will recognise such as Midwinter, Wills, and of course, the Bendigo United Cricket Club – one of the most influential cricket clubs in Australia in the 1800s.

Even though women’s cricket matches had been played in England on and off since the 1600s (by some accounts), in Australia the women faced both positive and negative critique about the matches.

The first women’s cricket association was formed in 1905, so it appeared in this newly developing colony that the 1874 women cricketers were just ahead of their time. The author, Louise Zedda-Sampson, is a Melbourne-based writer, researcher and award-nominated editor.

The illustrated hardback, of 100 pages, was published by LZS Press in June 2021.