Former WBBL cricketer Ashleigh Barty wins Australian Open 2022
Ashleigh Barty who has played for Brisbane Heat Women in the inaugural edition of the Women Big Bash League won the Australian Open title. She defeated American Danielle Collins to become the first Australian woman to win the title after a gap of 44 years. Former Australian Grand Slam champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley presented her the trophy who is Barty’s idol.
Her winning moment was also enjoyed by Chris O’Neil who was the last Australian to win the men’s or women’s singles title in Melbourne. Barty ended 2021 as the top-ranked player for the third consecutive year and joined the likes of Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams, and Chris Evert as the only women to achieve the feat.
After the 2014 US Open, she took an indefinite break from Tennis. She has been playing tennis from a very young age and was traveling for a very long time. She wanted to live her life like a normal teenage girl and at that time it struck her to try her hands in cricket. Barty met the Australian women’s cricket team in early 2015.
She decided to meet Andy Richards, who was the coach of Queensland Fire. Richards was really impressed with the way Barty approached the game and quickly started training her. Within a few months, Barty began playing for the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club and competed in Brisbane’s Women’s Premier Cricket Twenty20 league.
Ashleigh Barty was really impressive for the Brisbane Heat Women
Western Suburbs went on to win the tournament and Barty made 37 runs off 39 balls in the final. After her decent performance, Brisbane Heat signed her for the inaugural edition of the WBBL. In her debut match, Barty made 39 runs off 27 balls against Melbourne Stars. She remained a regular in the team as the Heat went on to win seven out of their 14 games in the tournament.
After her stint with the Heat, Barty returned to play Tennis once again and won numerous titles including the Roland Garros title in Paris. She was scheduled to return to Paris to defend her title in 2020 but she decided not to take part in the tournament due to the ongoing global pandemic. She went on to play golf instead and won the Brookwater Golf Club women’s title.
