By Benjamin Millar
Mel Jones has plenty of runs on the board in making her mark in male-dominated fields.
The Footscray resident has now been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to cricket and the community.
Jones said she grew up with a love of cricket from her father, who hailed from the West Indies.
This was cemented under her high school teacher John Handscomb, the father of Australian test player Peter Handscomb.
“At that stage I didn’t even know that women played cricket,” she said.
“I thought I would give it a go and my family have been extremely supportive of it.”
Jones went on to be a long-serving member of women’s National Cricket League team Victoria Spirit and was a member of the Australian Women’s World Cup Team in 1997 and 2005.
Her playing career was studded with a number of one-day internationals and test matches, scoring a century on debut against England.
Jones has been made a life member of the Essendon Maribyrnong Park Ladies Cricket Club, believed to be the world’s longest-serving women’s cricket club.
After a trailblazing career on the field, the long-time advocate for inclusion and diversity in sport is now taking on the male-dominated realm of cricket commentary with Fox Sports. “We are seeing a societal change in terms of women’s sport in Australia,” she said.
“The important thing is to keep that momentum going.”
