Cathryn Fitzpatrick, 2006

Cathryn Fitzpatrick (b. 1968) was the fastest bowler in women's cricket over her international playing career of sixteen years, achieving ball speed of up to 125km per hour. Playing junior cricket for Victoria, she built her fitness working as a garbage collector and a postal deliverer. First representing Australia in 1991, when she was 23, she accumulated numerous cricketing honours, including the 1997 and 2005 World Cups. In 2004 she was named Australia's International Woman Cricketer of the Year and in 2005 she became the first female bowler to take 150 one-day wickets. After the Australian team's 2005 tour of England - during which Australia narrowly lost the Ashes but won the 5-match limited over series –she played her last Test in India and her last one-day international against New Zealand in 2006. Coaching the Victorian women’s team from 2007 to 2012, from 2012 to 2015 she coached the Australian women’s team, the Southern Stars, to world No 1 position before leaving to focus on talent identification and skills development in young players in Victoria. In 2014 she was named one of Wisden’s Five Greats of the Women’s Game.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery Gift of the artist 2006
© Toni Wilkinson