Lisa Carprini Sthalekar () (born 13 August 1979) is an Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer and captain of the Australia women's national cricket team. In domestic cricket, she represented New South Wales. She was a right-handed all rounder who bowled off spin, and was rated as the leading all rounder in the world when rankings were introduced. She was the first woman to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets in ODIs. She announced her retirement from international cricket a day after the Australian team won the 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup.
Sthalekar made her debut in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) late in 1997–98 as a specialist bowler, but had little success, totalling 1/120 in her maiden campaign. She improved her performance over the next two seasons, taking 8 and 15 wickets respectively. In three years, she scored only 169 runs with a best score of 33. In 2000–01 Sthalekar took 11 wickets and scored 112 runs in the WNCL and was called into the Australian team for the first time. Playing as a bowler, she made her One Day International (ODI) debut against England and ended the tour of the British Isles with five wickets from as many matches.
In 2001–02, Sthalekar developed into a frontline batter. She made her first half-century, compiling four in all for the season. She totalled 347 runs, more than her four previous seasons combined, and took 11 wickets as New South Wales won their sixth consecutive WNCL with a clean sweep. Sthalekar struggled with the ball in the next two international seasons, taking only eight wickets in 12 matches, but she did break through with the bat at international level, making three half-centuries in six matches. In early 2003, she made her Test debut against England, and made 120 not out, her maiden century, in her second match, although she took only three wickets in the two Tests.
In 2003–04 and the following season, Sthalekar took 14 wickets apiece and reached 250 runs in each season. In internationals, she returned to form with the ball and averaged more than a wicket per ODI. Sthalekar played in each match of Australia's unbeaten 2005 World Cup triumph in South Africa, taking seven wickets in all, and scoring 55 against India in the final.
After the World Cup, Australia toured the British Isles and Sthalekar made her maiden ODI century against Ireland. She took seven wickets in the two-Test series against England, and upon returning to Australia, made 72 and took 5/30 in an innings win over India. Sthalekar had a strong 2006–07 international season with the bat, scoring 604 runs at 67.11, passing 40 in 9 of her 12 innings, but struggled with the ball, taking 10 wickets at 41.00. In 2007–08, she missed out on a second Test century, falling for 98 in a one-off match against England. She ended the season with consecutive ODI fifties against New Zealand and won the Belinda Clark Award for both 2007 and 2008. She started the following summer with unbeaten scores of 73 and 104 against India, before taking 4/20 in the next match to help set up a clean sweep of the ODI series.
Sthalekar led New South Wales to five consecutive WNCL titles starting in 2005–06. During this period, she averaged over 40 with the bat and just over 20 with the ball, scoring more than 1400 runs and taking 60 wickets. She reached her maiden WNCL century in 2009–10 having ended unbeaten in the nineties on two occasions in the five-year period.
During the 2009 World Cup held in New South Wales and Canberra, Sthalekar was Australia's leading wicket-taker with 13 wickets at 15.69 but struggled with the bat, making 70 runs at 14.00 as Australia lost the third-place playoff to India. In early 2010, Sthalekar took 5/35, he best ODI bowling figures, in her 100th match. Australia defeated New Zealand in all eight ODIs and Sthalekar was prominent with the ball, taking 12 wickets from seven matches. In August 2020, she was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Birth and adoption Originally named Laila at birth, Sthalekar was born in the city of Pune in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. Her biological parents, who were unable to support her, placed her at Shreevatsa, an orphanage attached to Pune's Sassoon Hospital. Haren and Sue Sthalekar, Lisa's adoptive parents, were a couple who lived in Michigan, United States. Haren was born in Bombay and Sue to English parents. The Sthalekars had a daughter and were in India visiting Shreevatsa, hoping to adopt a boy to complete the family. Unsuccessful in their search and about to leave Shreevatsa, it was suggested that they meet Laila. Sue fell in love with her big brown eyes and within a short period of time they decided to adopt her. They thus completed the necessary legal formalities and renamed Laila as Lisa. Three weeks after her birth, Sthalekar's family brought her back to the United States. The family travelled onto Kenya for a period for Haren's work as a Christian missionary before eventually settling in Sydney. Lisa Sthalekar visited Shreevatsa on 3 March 2012.
Early years Sthalekar was introduced to cricket by her father in backyard games, saying "I think cricket runs in the blood of all Indians." She played against boys initially, and was not aware that females played cricket until her father took her to a women's Test match between Australia and England at North Sydney Oval. She then joined the Gordon club on the North Shore region Sydney; playing with the boys on the weekend mornings before competing with the women during the afternoon.
Sthalekar attended primary schooling at Cherrybrook Public School (playing for West Pennant Hills Cherrybrook Cricket Club), early high school years at Cherrybrook Technology High School and later attended Barker College, a private Anglican school on the North Shore of Sydney. She later completed a Bachelor of Arts at Sydney University, majoring in psychology and religious studies.
Domestic beginnings
Sthalekar made her debut for New South Wales towards the end of the 1997–98 season, against Queensland. She started as primarily a bowler who batted in the lower order and in her first match took 0/19 from six overs and was not required to bat as New South Wales won by five wickets. She played in five matches including the finals series against South Australia. In the first match, she took 1/22 from ten overs in a six-wicket victory, her maiden wicket at senior level in her fourth match, and in the second final, she only bowled five overs for 0/23. She was unbeaten on six when New South Wales reached their target with four wickets in hand to win the finals 2–0 and win the WNCL for the second year in a row. Sthalekar ended her maiden WNCL series with 25 runs at 25.00 and one wicket at 120.00 at an economy rate of 3.00.
Sthalekar was selected for the Under-23 national team at the end of the season to play a series against New Zealand A. Though economical in three one-dayers, she was not incisive, taking two wickets at 40.50 and an economy rate of 3.00 and scoring 22 runs at 7.33. She had more success in the non-limited-overs two-innings match, scoring 6 and 22 and taking a total of 5/91 in an Australian win. She bowled 62.1 overs for the match.
In 1998–99, Sthalekar had more success in the WNCL. She batted in the middle-order on occasions and scored 76 runs at 19.00 from four innings in seven matches. She took wickets in all but one match, ending with eight at 21.87. New South Wales met Victoria in the finals and Sthalekar scored 33 before being run out and took 2/21 in a seven-run win. It was Sthalekar's best bowling and batting analysis for the season. They then won the next match by one run to seal a hat-trick of WNCL titles, Sthalekar scoring one and taking 1/19 from her ten overs.
In 1999–2000, Sthalekar again had few opportunities with the bat in the middle and lower order as opposition bowlers struggled to make inroads into the New South Wales batting. She scored 68 runs at 34.00 from five innings in ten matches. Sthalekar took 15 wickets at 16.00 at an economy rate of 3.15, including four three-wicket hauls; all four matches ended in a New South Wales victory. All of these came in a period of six matches from the end of October to the start of December and included consecutive three-wicket hauls against Queensland and Victoria. Her best result was a 3/15 to help dismiss South Australia, before scoring 17 not out in a seven-wicket win. New South Wales again made the finals and after taking 2/27 from six overs in a 19-run win over Western Australia in the first match, she took 1/43 from ten overs the next day and made her top-score of the season, compiling an unbeaten 21 in the lower order to help New South Wales to victory by three wickets and claim their fourth successive WNCL, winning all but one of their matches.
At the end of the season, Sthalekar was selected in the Australia Under-21 team to play against New Zealand A. In her first match she scored 81 before being run out, but this was not enough to prevent a five-wicket defeat. The New Zealand attacked her bowling during the match, taking 45 runs from her nine overs without losing a wicket. She took one wicket in each of the next two matches as Australia won by ten and nine wickets respectively, before scoring 27—again run out—and taking 3/39 in the fourth match to help secure a 15-run win. She ended the series with 108 runs at 54.00 and six wickets at 22.50 and an economy rate of 3.46.
In 2000–01, Sthalekar again played in all ten matches of New South Wales' fifth consecutive WNCL title. She struggled in the first three matches, taking only one wicket and scoring 21 runs. In the fourth match, she scored 31 as New South Wales were dismissed for only 174, and took 0/30 from nine overs as Queensland inflicted New South Wales's first loss of the season, by two wickets. After taking 3/23 against Western Australia in the fifth match of the season, she prepared for the finals by scoring 23 and then taking 4/7 from 8.2 overs against Victoria in the last qualifying match, sealing a 69-run win. In the first final against Queensland, she made 43 and conceded only 20 runs from her ten overs as the defending champions dismissed their opponents for 201 to seal a 33-run victory. In the second match, she took 1/18 from her ten overs and fell for a duck as New South Wales won by seven wickets to complete a 2–0 finals series win. The only defeat of the season was a narrow two-wicket loss to Queensland in the fourth match of the season. Sthalekar scored 112 runs at 18.66 and took 11 wickets at 17.45 with an economy rate of 2.25.
One Day International debut
These performances earned Sthalekar a call-up into the Australian team for the tour of England in mid-2001. She was overlooked for the one-off Test and made her international debut in the first One Day International (ODI) at County Ground, Derby, playing in a specialist bowler's position. She made one not out at the death as Australia batted first and made 7/238. She then took 2/25 from eight overs as the tourists dismissed England to seal a 99-run win. The next ODI at County Ground, Northampton was similar. She made four not out in Australia's 9/227 and took 1/24 from ten overs in a 118-run victory. Sthalekar was then left out of the team for the third and final ODI, so she missed out on the opportunity to play at Lord's, the home of cricket. The Australians then headed west to Dublin, Ireland to play three ODIs against the hosts' national team. Sthalekar played in all the matches and scored eight runs at 4.00 and took two wickets at 26.00 with an economy rate of 3.21, being run out in each match.