Born October 24th 1946 in Perth, Western Australia, former Australian Test and ODI cricketer Lorraine Hill scored a century in her debut Test.
A debut for Victoria in 1970/1 against New South Wales saw “Hilly” joining team mates Marg Jennings and Raelee Thompson. The close friends would be known as the Three Musketeers and would eventually all play for Australia.
By season 1972/3 it was becoming evident that Hilly could bat and early runs that season saw her move further up the order. Consistent runs followed and then her selection in the Australian squad to tour Jamaica and then England for the inaugural World Cup in 1973. Hilly only played in the one match, the rained out match against the International XI.
In 1974/5 she was selected in the Australian Test team to play New Zealand making her debut alongside Sharon Tredrea, Jackie Potter, Karen Price and the player she dismissed in her first class debut, Wendy Weir. Also in the team, the other two musketeers. Batting at number four, Hill scored 118 not out and thus a century on debut.
In seven Test matches Lorraine scored 499 runs, with one century and two half-centuries at the handsome average of 62.37.
Hilly’s biggest triumph in the ODI arena was opening the batting with skipper Marg Jennings in the World Cup winning team of 1978. Another high point being a participant in the first women’s match played at Lords, 1976. Across eight ODIs a top score of 106 and an average of 23.83. World Cup winner, a century on Test debut – doesn’t get much better than that.
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