Belinda Clark was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2011 as an Athlete Member and elevated as a Legend in 2025 for her contribution to the sport of Cricket.

One of the most significant figures in Australian cricket history, Belinda Clark left an indelible mark on her chosen sport, primarily as a trailblazing opening batter and inspirational leader, and later as a respected administrator furthering the game from the other side of the fence.

Clark was a pioneer who helped to drive the women’s game into the mainstream, playing a pivotal role in shaping the success of Australian teams through the 1990s and 2000s.

After growing up in Newcastle with dreams of an international tennis career, Clark switched her ambitions to cricket after playing her first official match at 13 at high school.

By the age of 21, Clark had been selected in the New South Wales side, and made her One-Day International and Test debuts for Australia. She made an instant impact, scoring a century in her maiden Test – 104 runs against India – and named player of the series in a stunning start to her international cricket career.

In all, she played 15 Tests for Australia, scoring 919 runs at an average of 45.90, with a highest score of 136 in the 1998 Ashes series in England.

Clark’s ODI career was spectacular, scoring 4,844 runs at 47.49, including five centuries, with her unbeaten 229 against Denmark at the 1997 World Cup making her the first cricketer, male or female, to score a double ODI century.

Her leadership was the catalyst for a successful era for the Australian women’s team, leading her country 101 times and spearheading two World Cup triumphs (1997, 2005).

She also played in seven domestic championship triumphs, five with her home state of New South Wales and two more with Victoria.

Following her retirement in 2005 she played a huge role in the game’s direction in various administrative roles, including as an executive at Cricket Australia and as a member of the ICC’s Women’s Committee.

Clark was the first woman inducted into the Australian Cricket of Fame, the second woman admitted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, and became an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2018.

There is an exquisite symmetry about Belinda Clark’s statue outside the members’ entrance to the Sydney Cricket Ground, as it encapsulates what made her one of Australian cricket’s most significant figures.

The bronze figure, which stands alongside those of other great captains Richie Benaud and Steve Waugh, depicts a bold pull shot that presumably found its way to the boundary.

When the statue was unveiled in 2023, Clark revealed she had some input into the design, saying: “I wanted it to be a bold shot to reflect the game that’s moving forward.”

In many ways, that sums up not only the way Clark attacked her cricket during a trailblazing 14-year international career, as a daring batter and inspirational captain who changed the women’s game, but also her personality, always looking for the next challenge. It reflects the impact she had on Australian cricket as a player and an administrator, endeavouring to lift the game to greater heights.

She broke countless records as a player, some still unrivalled, and broke down the barriers in helping to transform what was a part-time game when she first played for Australia in 1991 to the professional pathway that exists for today’s female cricketers.

As Greg Chappell said when Clark became the first woman to be inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2014: “She changed the way women played cricket. She was a classical (batter) but one who hit the ball harder than anyone else had before. She’s inspired generations of women and girls to want to play the game of cricket.”

That’s not something Clark set out to do when she played her first official game of cricket at 13, representing Newcastle High School. Her early sporting aspirations centred on winning Wimbledon, not playing in an Ashes series, in a family not obsessed with sport though blessed with a competitive edge.

The tennis ball hit incessantly against her parents’ garage door was soon replaced by a cricket ball, but in those formative years she discovered a love of the game as well as a desire to be the most competitive and successful cricketer she could be.

Her childhood backyard cricket games were “ferocious and unforgiving”, with Clark saying: “As a third child, I batted down the order only to face a barrage of bouncers at 10 metres in fading light.” She would later tell Wisden: “I expected myself to win. They (her parents Allan and Margaret) expected me to do my best, behave properly and give it a good shot.”

Belinda played with a local boys’ under-16 team and graduated to regional and state representation, with her ascent leading to selection for New South Wales when she was 21. In the summer of 1991 she was selected for Australia, first for a One-Day International and a fortnight later for the first of her 15 Test matches.

She was a star almost from the outset, making 104 on debut against India at North Sydney Oval, and swiftly establishing herself as the best prepared and most exciting female cricketer in the world.

In what was a significant period of change for women’s cricket in this country, Clark was made the Australian captain following a disappointing 1993 World Cup campaign. She relished the captaincy, with new coach John Harmer playing an important role and a regeneration of young talent balanced alongside an aggressive new approach to all aspects of the game. It led to a spectacular 1997 year from Clark, and the Australians, which was rewarded with World Cup success.

That year she made brilliant ODI centuries against Pakistan (131) and New Zealand (142), the latter which she considered one of her greatest innings. She then rewrote the history books in India by becoming the first cricketer, female or male, to score a double century when she smacked an unbeaten 229 off 155 balls against Denmark in Mumbai before top-scoring for Australia with 52 in their successful World Cup final run chase against New Zealand.

Her 1997 calendar year produced a record-breaking 970 runs, which saw her recognised as the Wisden Australia Cricketer of the Year in 1998.

Clark’s second Test century, a knock of 136, came the following year in the Ashes series.

In 2000, Australia’s World Cup defence saw Clark score 91 and earning player of the match honours in the final against New Zealand, though her team agonisingly fell five runs short of victory.

Back-to-back Ashes victories in 2001 and 2002-03 showed how successful Clark’s team had become during her long tenure as captain. This culminated with a stunning World Cup triumph in 2005 in South Africa, in what proved to be Clark’s final year at the helm.

In a tense run chase in the semi-final against England, Clark scored 62 runs from 105 balls as the Aussies reached their tally with three overs to spare. While she only got 19 in the final against India, the Australians won by 98 runs to secure a second World Cup victory under Clark’s leadership.

Her one-day record ended up being 4,844 runs, including five centuries, from 118 games. Clark’s stunning international career ended after the 2005 Ashes series loss, though the Aussies won the subsequent ODI series against England.

Her Test career ended with 919 runs from 15 matches, with her aggressive, top of the order batting and almost unparalleled leadership helping to change the status of women’s cricket.

As Clark said on her retirement: “I leave the game with a lifetime of memories. Playing cricket has been such an enormous part of my life that it’s certainly going to be strange not to be pulling on the gear anymore.”

If that had been the final punctuation mark on her impact on cricket it would have been more than enough, as so many girls dared to dream of making a career in the game following on from her trailblazing success. But Clark had more to give, with her influence in administration as significant as her playing career.

She had been chief executive of the Women’s Cricket Association even during her playing days. Following the merger with Cricket Australia, she took on several administrative roles, including senior manager of team performance, manager of the Australian Cricket Academy, executive general manager of community cricket, and serving as a member of the ICC’s Women’s Committee. In 2019, she was appointed Executive General Manager of Team Performance, leading the national teams and high-performance programs through a tumultuous period in the sport’s history following the ball-tampering scandal.

She was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2011, the year she was admitted to the ICC Hall of Fame, and she became the first female player to be elevated into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2014.

Fittingly, Cricket Australia and Cricket NSW struck medals named in Clark’s honour to recognise the best women’s performers each season – she provided a platform for young girls daring to dream who might once have been denied a clear pathway.

As she told The Australian: “I remember playing at school and thinking ‘I want to go to the cricket academy’. I had no idea it was only for boys. Now you’ve got girls and young women who can take the leap saying, ‘I’d actually like to do this as a career’. Imagine one of your daughters walking in and saying, ‘I’ve got a WBBL contract, I’d like to play for Australia, I’m earning this amount of money and I can go to university’. It’s a very different picture to when I was a kid.”

Honours & Achievements

• 1992: Graduated University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Applied Science, Physiotherapy
• 1998: Wisden Australia Cricketer of the Year
• 1998: Appointed Assistant Development Manager at Cricket New South Wales
• 2000: Appointed CEO of Women’s Cricket Australia
• 2000: Appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
• 2005: Appointed as Senior Manager, Team Performance at Cricket Australia
• 2008: Inducted into NSW Hall of Champions
• 2011: Inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
• 2011: Inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame
• 2014: Inaugural female inductee to the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame
• 2015: Graduated Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program
• 2017: Appointed to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Board
• 2018: Appointed as Executive General Manager, Community Cricket at Cricket Australia
• 2018: Appointed to Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program Selection Committee
• 2018: Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
• 2018: Appointed ICC T20 World Cup (Australia) Local Organising Committee
• 2020: Founded, The Leadership Playground