This article was first published by the late Peter Prendergast in 2023 and is reproduced by kind permission of the family.

Somewhere back in the mid eighties, as skipper of a UCD XI that had been hastily convened for the annual intervarsities tournament, I found myself blessed with an all international opening attack in Peter O’Reilly and Stella Owens. While there is nothing surprising these days in a female player competing in the Leinster Cricket Union Open Competition, there was very little precedent for this at the time. 

At least one other team complained that Stella should have been deemed ineligible; a tournament organiser asked me to reconsider my selection. But by then the Intervarsities tournament was underway and I knew that I held all the cards in this argument. It was UCD’s turn to host so not only had I organised local grounds for the upcoming matches but I had wheedled a generous grant from the college authorities to cover the traditional post final dinner. So I thanked all complainants for their input and suggested that perhaps it might be optimal if each team was permitted to field the best players available. 

Stella was an extraordinary cricketer. She and I grew up together, our houses in closest proximity to Clontarf Cricket Club. While most of us struggled with the odd techniques cricket requires, Stella just appeared through her back hedge one day with the most fluent bowling action imaginable, a smooth run up leading to a perfect gather, high front arm over a braced front leg, all leading to the easiest follow through you could possibly wish for. She played on our boys teams until objections arrived and she was forced to operate primarily as a bowler on the newly formed women’s team. It was later into her teens that Stella developed into one of the finest batters Ireland has seen. 

Cricket, both male and female, has undergone overwhelming change in the past 20 years. The pull shot is an interesting one. For years thought of exclusively as a back foot stroke, a lot of players would step back and across before the bowler had even released, Ricky Ponting all of a sudden hitting these cross batted shots better than anyone had in history by moving his head towards the ball in anticipation of an opportunity to drive, then springing back and striking from there. 

Similarly with the straight drive. What happened to that lengthy forward stride I was advised to employ? Watch Steve Smith or Heather Knight hit down the ground and you will see that footwork is kept to an absolute minimum, elite players allowing the ball to travel right under their eyes before effectively dropping the bat on it. But it is the improved understanding of how power is generated that has driven the remarkable recent improvement in the women’s game. True, technology has helped. That 5 oz white Kookaburra ball rockets off the bat while modern methods of airdrying willow has allowed batmakers to ensure that female players no longer have to sacrifice power for flexibility by using Harrow sized bats designed for teenage boys. 

But mostly it is the stunning technique of the best female players that has driven this increased popularity in the women’s game. The full houses  attending both the inaugural WIPL and the recent Ashes would indicate that the modern women’s game has become a hugely attractive mix of skill, touch and power. 

Stella has returned to cricket in recent years along with another former Ireland star in Susan O’Neill, both now coaching in the women’s section of Clontarf Cricket Club. I sometimes wonder how they view the modern game. It must be difficult not to feel some envy at the full-time contracts, worldwide travel and mouthwatering fixtures enjoyed by the current squad. 

Like the female greats in other countries players like Miriam Grealey, Barbara McDonald and Mary Pat Moore battled against indifference and stupidity, often playing on substandard racks, in outrageously unsuitable clothing, with equipment that was barely fit for purpose. But still they endured, their brilliance providing Irish women’s cricket with identity and respect before passing the torch on to the Joyce twins, Clare Shillington, Ciara Metcalfe and others. And so it continues, each subsequent generation of players benefitting from the contribution of previous ones…..

I hope these special cricketers understand just how highly they are regarded within Irish cricket. We all have our own memories of them.  My own are different of course since I was in at the ground floor. I was present that day when this pencil thin kid climbed through her back hedge to join the unrivalled chaos that was Clontarf Cricket Club in the mid 1970s.