Sarah Elliott

Sarah Jane Elliott (; born 4 January 1982) is an Australian former cricketer who played as a right-handed batter and right-arm leg break bowler. She appeared in three Test matches, 22 One Day Internationals and 14 Twenty20 Internationals for Australia between 2005 and 2014. She played domestic cricket for Victoria, Melbourne Renegades and Adelaide Strikers.

Edwards made her senior debut for Victoria mid-way through the 2000–01 season soon after turning 19. At this stage of her career, Edwards was a specialist batsman and did not bowl her first ball in senior cricket until six years later. She was not productive with the bat in her first two seasons, and was dropped after making a duck in her only innings of the third season. Up to this point, she had made only 165 runs at 11.00. She regained her place in the 2003–04 season but averaged less than 10. Nevertheless, she was selected for the Australian Under-23 team and made 51 and 97 in matches against the Sri Lankan national team. Edwards made her breakthrough in the 2004–05 WNCL, scoring 281 runs, more than she had made in her first four seasons combined. She was selected for the 2005 tour of England, but was not selected in the Tests; she made her One Day International (ODI) debut in the last match but neither batted or bowled. Edwards was then dropped from the national team and did not play for Australia again until a solitary ODI at the start of the 2006–07 season. After scoring 332 runs in the WNCL season, she was given a consistent run in the national team for the first time, playing in just over half the matches during the year. She made only 37 runs at 7.40 and spent most of the following season's international fixtures watching from the sidelines as a reserve, playing in only two ODIs.

Edwards started the 2008–09 season by making her top-score in ODIs, 96, in her only innings in the series against India. However, she had a poor WNCL season with the bat, averaging 19.40. Although she began bowling regularly for the first time at senior level, and was successful with 11 wickets, Edwards was dropped from the ODI team, missing the 2009 World Cup and World Twenty20.

In 2009–10 Edwards performed strongly with both bat and ball, scoring 300 runs and taking 14 wickets and was recalled to the national team. She played in all eight ODI matches against New Zealand in the Rose Bowl series at the end of the season, the first time she had played a full series for the national team. Edwards does not bowl regularly at international level as Lisa Sthalekar and Shelley Nitschke—who are also spin bowling all-rounders—are ranked among the top ten bowlers in the world and do most of the slow bowling for Australia. She was a part of the team that won the 2010 World Twenty20, playing in all but one match.

Youth career Edwards made was selected for the Victorian team for the national Under-19 tournament in January 2000, turning 18 during the early part of the competition. She made 55 in the third match against South Australia and recorded her top-score of 89 against the Australian Capital Territory. The Victorians won all of their seven matches except their round-robin match against New South Wales and the final against the same team. Edwards scored 224 runs at 32.00.

Domestic debut

At the start of the 2000–01 season, Edwards played in two Second XI matches for Victoria against New South Wales. She scored 7 and 46 and earned a call-up into the senior team for the double-header against New south Wales in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL). She neither batted nor bowled; the hosts were all out for 256 and Australia reached the target with four wickets in hand, Edwards not being trusted to bat any higher than No. 9 if necessary, despite playing purely as a batsman. She played in the T20 international the day after, but was again not called upon to bat or bowl in her debut in the format. Edwards scored an unbeaten 45 from 48 balls to guide Australia to a four-wicket win with 14 balls to spare in her first ODI on home soil at Allan Border Field.

Edwards performer consistently through most of the 2006–07 WNCL season, reaching 28 in each of her first six innings, including a 51 in a six-wicket win over New South Wales and an unbeaten 52 in another successful run-chase against Western Australia. After making single-figure scores in the last two round-robin matches against Queensland, she played in the three finals, which Victoria hosted after winning six of their eight qualifying matches. She made 22 and 25 in the first two matches and in the deciding match, made 38 before being run out. New South Wales reached the target of 206 with three wickets in hand to defend their title. Edwards ended with 332 runs at 33.20. She was recalled for the fourth match and made six from 15 balls, and was omitted from the final match of the series. She then had a prominent role with both bat and ball in the double-header against Western Australia. She scored 45 and took 3/22 to help secure a 47-run victory, before taking 2/34 and making 30 in a six-wicket win the following day. In the first warm-up match against New Zealand, which Australia lost by 18 runs, Elliott took 1/17 from three overs, removing top-scorer Suzie Bates for 51. She then made 4 from 7 balls at the end of Australia's innings.

Personal life Elliott's nickname is "Sticksy". She is married to Rob, and they have two sons, Sam and Jacob and a daughter, Jocelyn. Elliott continued to play elite cricket, and work as a physiotherapist, after her children were born. She played her first cricket match as a mother when Sam was six weeks old.

In 2013, Elliott became the first mother to tour as a member of the Australian women's cricket team, when she, accompanied by Rob and Sam, then aged just nine months, participated in that year's Women's Ashes tour. Rob and Sam were both present when Elliott scored her maiden Test century during the tour. Jacob was born the following year.