Belinda Clark becomes first women's cricketer to get statute, sculpture unveiled at SCG walk of honour

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Sydney, January 5: ICC Hall of Famer Belinda Clark on Thursday (January 5) became the first women's cricketer to get a state after the legendary Australian's sculpture was unveiled in the walk of honour at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in Sydney.

The bronze statue of the two-time World Cup-winning captain was revealed for the first time ahead of the second day of the third and final Test between Australia and South Africa. Cathy Weiszmann, a reputed New South Wales artist created the statue.

Clark is a World Cup-winning skipper, having won the titles in 1997 and 2005. Besides this, she has also been a prolific run scorer and key figure in the off-field development of cricket in country.

She was selected for the honour from a field of potential candidates including the first Test captain Margaret Peden and legendary all-rounder Betty Wilson.

She is the 15th member of SCG's sculpture project and has joined champion sprinters Betty Cuthbert and Marlene Matthews as the third female to get her statue. The other two athletes have their likenesses positioned in front of the Allianz Stadium.

A host of Clark's former teammates and modern-day stars were also in attendance at the unveiling and the former Australia captain was thrilled to accept the honour.

"I am excited to have the sculpture in place and for people to now look at it and perhaps wonder what that is, who that is and to be able to tell a bit of a story is really important," Clark said as quoted by cricket.com.au.

"The sculpture encapsulates being able to have a go-to be courageous, to take on those challenges and break convention."

"I want people to take away that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it and you have good people around you, and I think I have been very fortunate to have had great support and have a bit of an imagination to take my game where I wanted to take it, and hopefully the sport is in a better place for it," she added.

Clark is the highest-run scorer in ODI cricket when it comes to Australian women cricket, having scored 4,844 runs in 118 ODIs at an average of 47.49, with five tons and 30 fifties.

In 15 Tests she played for her country, she made 919 runs at an average of 45.95, with two tons and six fifties. She also was named skipper at the age of 23 and led the team for 12 years until she retired in 2005.