Amanda Stinson - A missed catch

 

A Missed Catch

In the summer of 1984, I was captain of the school’s first XI cricket team. We had an after-school match scheduled, but only ten players turned up. It wasn’t ideal, but we were used to scrabbling things together.

Someone suggested we ask one of the girls from the school hockey team to play—apparently she was “actually really good at cricket.” I scoffed at the idea and instead roped in a forgettable boy to bat at number 11 and field somewhere deep in the long grass.

That girl was Amanda Stinson.

If the name rings a bell, it should. Two years later, she was playing for England, earning four Test caps and appearing in five One Day Internationals.

As for the boy I picked instead—I couldn’t tell you his name if you paid me.

1984 was still a time of casual misogyny, even for a well-meaning, lefty-leaning liberal like me. Cricket was “for the lads,” and I genuinely thought I was doing the right thing by preserving that unspoken rule.

Looking back now, I can only shake my head—and hang it, too.

The moral? Never underestimate a hockey player. And always, always pick the person who can actually play.