When growing up, her father played District Cricket for Adelaide and held coaching clinics for many aspiring Adelaideans (including a young Ken Cunningham) in the Garwood back yard. He also coached the State Colts – a SACA ýoung talent squad.
On 16 July 1945, when Chris Garwood was born Chris’ father, who lived and breathed cricket, received a telegram from his brother – “Oops – change of venue, Lord’s to Wimbledon”.
Chris’ mother had been a very good tennis player.
But not so fast …
Not that Chris was averse to tennis, it’s just that the love of cricket superseded every other sport.
After all, she grew up with not just backyard cricket, and a house full of cricket books, but exposed to the coaching sessions in the backyard, and the post-midnight sessions listening with her dad, to the crackly radio commentary when Australia played Tests in England.
Enjoyment of any sport, and the fun of joining in, was more the essence of this experience. No mention arose of a young girl actually playing competitively.
In fact, when Chris and her dad attended games at the Adelaide Oval, they could not sit together in the fathers’ and sons’ stand and there was no such accommodation for mothers and daughters.
Then, when Chris’ dad took up a country appointment away from the city, there was no local women’s cricket competition.
Only later, in returning to the city, was when the young woman was introduced to organised, competitive women’s cricket.
In modern times, women cricketers in Australia enjoy some of the highest wages, conditions, success and public profile of any female athletes in the nation.
Chris Garwood was among many at the forefront of building female athlete capacity and changing attitudes which has led to this outcome.
As a PE teacher, she had the skills and contacts to help grow the foundational skills through establishing multiple coaching clinics for juniors.
As an administrator, she and others possessed the innovation to seek media coverage and commercial sponsorship to help grow the sport and its profile.
As an advocate, she had the courage and forthrightness to publicly challenge old attitudes towards women playing cricket.
Chris Garwood never did quite make it to Lords as a player but as a right-handed batter, she played for SA in the late 1960s to early 70s. However, her main passion was to grow the game for girls and women.
The game has much for which to be thankful as a result.
