Isa Guha is one of the gems of English women’s cricket

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Star of the English Eves

A frontline bowler of the English women’s cricket team, Isa Guha tells us about her incredible journey with the sport, her future goals and her team’s preparation ahead of the 2009 World Cup...

                                                                                                                                          
Recently, the popularity and the coverage given to women’s cricket has been increasing and growing. Are things improving towards women’s cricket? Is there more viewership to the game now than before?
I definitely think so. We have played a few curtain-raisers in Melbourne and Australia. We played in a T20 match just before the men’s international game and that was great in terms of publicity. We had about 23,000 people turn up for the game in order to see what women’s cricket was about. In England, we have games telecast on TV. The media coverage is growing constantly.

Tell us a little bit about how you started playing cricket?
I started when I was eight years old. I joined the local boys club where my brother was already playing there. My parents saw my interest in the sport when they saw me chase after the ball when my brother was playing in the back garden. Then I joined the boys club and from there I found out about all the women’s teams that were playing. And from there, I just kept growing.

Who was the cricketer you looked up to the most while you were growing up?
When I was growing up, I probably looked up to Ian Botham.

A little bit about your career Isa, you took five wickets in the series against India. Tell us about that match…
That was five years ago. Looking back now, I was young then and it was just great to be a part of the English team. I went in to it just thinking of how to bowl and how I bowl in the county level. I had the confidence to go out there and try and bowl as good as I could.

You have also toured with the England Under-19 team to Australia in 2002 where you were named the ‘Bowler of the Series’ as England won almost all six matches. What was that feeling like?
It was an incredible feeling, obviously. To go out to Australia and take wickets overseas was such a tremendous feeling. It just showed that I was capable of doing it not on just the English wickets….

You have a lot of accolades to your name. Just to name one of them, the BBC Asian Network’s ‘Sports Personality of the Year’ in 2002. Did you expect it? What was your reaction to that?
I was not expecting that whatsoever. When I heard that I was nominated, I was thrilled and when I found that I had won, it was such a great feeling! It was even more special because the whole team came to watch me while I was receiving the award!

What has been your most memorable moment in your cricketing career?
I will have to say probably this whole series against Australia because of the way we played as a team. Obviously, personally, I was really pleased with my performance in the Ashes. Taking nine wickets, I was really happy about everything that went on. This was the most successful tour Down Under and it only bodes well for the future. So I would have to say that this was probably my best time on tour.

With the World Cup coming up in 2009, how are your team’s preparations so far? Are you confident of bringing the Cup back home this time?
We are confident after this tour as we have learnt so much. There are a lot of things that we still need to work on, but we are taking large strides and everyone is filling in their roles really well. A lot of players are coming into the team and making use of the opportunities. We will go into the World Cup feeling confident as a team and feeling confident that we can be world beaters!

What are your goals for the future and where do we see you five years from now?
Five years from now, I am hopefully still going to be playing cricket. I want to play for as long as I can. I love playing for the English team and it just gives me tremendous pride every time I go out onto the pitch. I just hope to be a part of the set-up.

And finally Isa, what is your message to all the young girls out there around the world who are aspiring cricketers?
I think the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself. It is important to be determined and to work hard and to do all the right things but it is even more important to go out there and enjoy everything you do.

It was a pleasure talking to you!
Thank you!

- As told to Swarupa Ananth