Born 4th March 1968 in Melbourne, Victoria, former Test, ODI and T20 player for Australia, Cathryn Fitzpatrick is one of the game’s greatest.
Victoria has always had this production line of fast bowlers. Sharon Tredrea and Raelee Thompson are two great fast bowlers who immediately come to mind. Cathryn Fitzpatrick sits easily with those two names.
“There’s a few bowlers that don’t like the ball being taken away from them. Cathryn is one of them. She was a fierce competitor who used all her nous and physical speed. She was always working on deceiving the batters.” – Belinda Clark
Making her debut for Victoria in 1989/90 it didn’t take long for the young speed demon to attract attention and by the following summer was selected to play for Australia in the second Test against India in Adelaide. Cathryn took 1-23 from 27 over, which included 15 maidens.
Fitzpatrick made her ODI debut in 1993, but wickets were hard to come by at the beginning. However, runs for the opposing batters were hard to come by from her bowling. The wickets began to flow in the ensuing years and Cathryn became the first bowler in women’s ODI cricket to take 100 wickets. In her career of 109 matches which included appearances at four World Cups, Cathryn took 180 wickets at 16.79 with a best of 5-14. She took five wickets in an innings four times.
As impressive as those ODI numbers are, her Test numbers are also remarkable. The standout was the two Test series in England in 2001 where she took 17 wickets at 10.23 and a major factor in the Australians winning the series 2-0. Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s Test haul of 60 wickets (at 19.11) is the second highest by an Australian in women’s Tests. In third place is the aforementioned Thompson. At the top is Australia’s greatest, Betty Wilson. Pretty good company.
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