Lisa Sthalekar Becomes First Woman President of FICA

Lisa Sthalekar is FICA's new president.

Image: IANS

Legendary Australian cricketer Lisa Sthalekar has become the first woman president of the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA).

The 42-year-old former Australia captain was confirmed in the role at the FICA Executive Committee meeting held in Nyon, Switzerland.

She will take up a position that has previously been held by former South Africa batter Barry Richards, former West Indies all-rounder Jimmy Adams, and most recently by former England batter Vikram Solanki.

"Lisa Sthalekar has been confirmed as FICA's President at the FICA Executive Committee meeting held in Nyon, Switzerland this week," the FICA said in a statement.

The Executive Committee meeting was held ahead of the FICA and World Players' Association Player Development Conferences and was the first in-person meeting of the group since the COVID-19 pandemic.

"After consultation with our members we are delighted to announce Lisa's appointment as FICA President, our first female President. Lisa was clearly the best candidate and her credentials are unparalleled as both a former player and broadcaster," FICA Executive Chairman Heath Mills said.

Sthalekar, on her part, said, "We are entering a new phase of the game which covers more cricket than ever before for our male and female players. More countries are playing the game which demonstrates that cricket is certainly becoming a global game.

"I look forward to working on behalf of our member players' associations and players, and in particular to working with the ICC to ensure that all players have their rights protected and can work in partnership with administrators to make our game even better." Sthalekar represented Australia in 187 international matches across the three formats and was part of the Australian teams that won the ODI World Cups in 2005 and 2013 and T20 World Cups in 2010 and 2012.

She retired from the game after Australia's 2013 ODI World Cup triumph in Mumbai after making her debut as a hard-hitting batter in 2003.

She was at her best in ODIs, scoring 2728 runs in 125 games with two centuries and 16 fifties. Her off-spin was a highly effective weapon as well. She still remains among the top 10 wicket-takers in 50-overs cricket.

She was the first woman to score 1000 runs and take 100 wickets in ODI cricket. She also played eight Tests and 54 T20 International matches.

In 2021, she became only the fourth woman to be inducted into the Australian cricket Hall of Fame.