Leah Poulton
Encyclopedia
Leah Joy Poulton is a female Australian cricketer who plays for New South Wales
and Australia. She is a specialist batsman
who usually opens the batting
.
Poulton came to prominence in youth cricket by captaining New South Wales to the Under-17 national championships in 2000. In 2002–03, she made her senior debut for New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket League
(WNCL). She found runs hard to come by in her first three seasons and was in and out of the team frequently, aggregating only 24 runs in her second and third seasons combined. Despite this, she regularly captained Australia's Under-19 and Under-23 teams during this time, leading the latter on a successful tour of Sri Lanka
in 2004. In 2005–06, made a substantial impact on the WNCL for the first time, scoring 325 runs, more than twice her previous best season's total, playing in the first of five consecutive WNCL triumphs for New South Wales.
Poulton was rewarded with international selection in the Rose Bowl series
against New Zealand at the start of the 2006–07 season and scored her maiden century
, 101, in the third match. However, after a poor tour of India at the end of the season, she was dropped from the Australian team in mid 2007 and continued to be overlooked after a poor WNCL season in 2007–08. During the 2008 Australian winter, she travelled to play for Nottinghamshire in England, and earned herself a recall to the Australian team at the start of the 2008–09 southern hemisphere season. After scoring 376 runs at a batting average
of 41.77 in the 2008–09 WNCL, Poulton retained her position in the national team for the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup
and the 2009 World Twenty20. She was a regular member of the playing team in both tournaments, participating all the matches in the latter. In 2009, Poulton made her Test
debut against England and in 2009–10, she hit her second ODI century, 104 not out against New Zealand.
in the New South Wales
coastal city of Newcastle
, and plays for the Wallsend Cricket Club in the city. She attended Lambton High School
and outside of cricket, she works as a physical education teacher.
In March 2000, soon after turning 16, she played for New South Wales in the national Under-17 championships. She scored 141 runs at a batting average
of 23.50 and took two wicket
s at a bowling average
of 15.50 as New South Wales defeated Victoria Blue to win the competition. In January 2002, she was selected for the state Under-19 team and scored 112 in the first match, against the Australian Capital Territory. She also made two ducks
and ended the tournament with 188 runs at 31.33; New South Wales won all of their six matches.
in a double-header against South Australia
. In her first match, she scored 12 in five-wicket victory. Playing in ten matches, she made many starts, reaching double figures in all but one of her nine innings, but managed only a best score of 36 run out
, against Western Australia
. She ended the WNCL season with 159 runs at 19.87 as New South Wales came second, ending a run of six consecutive titles. Victoria
qualified first and thus hosted the finals, defeating New South Wales 2–0 in a best-of-three series. Poulton made only 1 and 11 in the deciding matches, which were lost by 3 wickets and 40 runs respectively.
During the season, Poulton also played in the Under-19 interstate tournament during the break in the WNCL, captaining her state. In five innings, she made three half-centuries, with a best of 73 against Queensland in the final, which New South Wales won by five wickets. She was unbeaten in the other two fifties after opening the batting; New South Wales completed ten-wicket wins in both instances. Poulton ended the competition with 191 runs at 63.66. She was rewarded with selection in and captaincy of the national Under-19 team during the season and played in two matches against England Under-19s, scoring 13 and 35 as Australia won both matches. At the end of the season, she was selected to lead an Australian Under-23 team to play against the senior England team. Poulton made 15 in her only innings.
Poulton had an interrupted season in 2003–04. After playing in the first two matches against Western Australia, scoring only 3 not out and 1 as New South Wales took both matches, she was absent until the finals series. Victoria had qualified first and hosted the three-match series. Poulton was omitted for the first match, which was won by the home team, before being recalled for the second match. She made 1 and 11 as New South Wales won the last two fixtures by five and three wickets respectively to claim the title. However, Poulton contributed little to the team's triumph, managing only 16 runs at 5.33. At the end of the season she was appointed captain of the Australian Youth team and played in four matches against New Zealand A, scoring 127 runs at 31.75 with a best of 75 in the second of these fixtures. Sarah Tsukigawa
had success against Poulton, dismissing her three times in a row. Australia won all but the last match.
Poulton was then made captain of the Australian Under-23 team for a tour of Sri Lanka
in September 2004. The tourists played four one-dayers against the host nation's senior team and won all but the abandoned third match. In the second match, Poulton scored 14 and took her first wicket against senior opposition after bowling for the first time at the level. She made her top-score of the series with 48 in the third fixture, and made 33 and took 2/10 in the fourth match. Poulton then made her debut in non-one-day cricket against the Sri Lankans, scoring 10 before being run out. After Australia took a 102-run lead, she top-scored with 40 before declaring at 8/150 and leading the team to a 140-run win. She took a total of 0/24 from 10 overs
.
After playing in the first four matches of the 2004–05 WNCL season, Poulton missed three matches in a row before playing her final match of the season against Queensland
and being dropped for the three finals matches against Victoria. New South Wales lost the finals 2–1 after finishing the regular season first and earning the right to host the series. Poulton batted only three times and accumulated eight runs at 4.00 but New South Wales nevertheless won all of these five matches.
Poulton returned to form in the 2005–06 WNCL season, playing in all of New South Wales' 11 matches. After being run out
for 39 in the first match against Western Australia, she made consecutive half-centuries against Western Australia and Queensland. New South Wales won seven of their eight round-robin matches to qualify to host the three-match finals series against Queensland. Up to this point, Poulton had only scored 24 runs at 6.00 in four WNCL finals matches and had been dropped ahead of the deciding series the previous season. In the first match at North Sydney Oval
, Poulton top-scored with an unbeaten 70 to guide New South Wales to their target of 175 for an eight-wicket win. She made 28 of her state's 154 as Queensland took the series to a deciding match with a three-wicket win in the second match. Poulton was dismissed for five in the deciding match as New South Wales were bowled out for 146, before dismissing the visitors for 144 to claim a two-run win and the WNCL. She ended the season with 325 runs at 32.50 as New South Wales won 9 of their 11 matches to claim the title. Poulton bowled for the first time in the WNCL, conceding 18 runs from two overs.
immediately after the WNCL. However, Poulton was called up for her senior international debut against New Zealand in the Rose Bowl series
staged at Allan Border Field
in Brisbane
at the start of the 2006–07 season because of an injury to fellow New South Wales batsman Alex Blackwell
. The chairman of selectors Margaret Jennings
said "She is a talented player with a free-flowing game, and we are keen to see how she performs against New Zealand, whom we expect to provide some very tough competition." Poulton played in all of the matches. She made 10 in her Twenty20
international debut and the match ended in a tie.
In her One Day International (ODI) debut, Poulton opened the batting with Melissa Bulow
and occupied the crease for nine balls before being trapped leg before wicket
by Sarah Burke for a duck. This left Australia at 1/0 with after 21 balls; the hosts eventually scraped home for a one-run victory. Poulton said that she was "way too nervous" during her maiden innings. She scored her first ODI runs in the following match, making 16 from 25 balls with 4 fours as the hosts won by a single wicket with a ball to spare. In the third match, Poulton scored her maiden ODI century, 101 from 136 balls, including seven fours and a six. Australia went on to seal the series with a five-run win. She then made 68 from 76 balls—including ten fours—in the next match before being run out, laying the foundation for Australia's 9/252 and a 85-run win. Poulton made only 12 in the final match as the hosts completed a clean sweep of the ODIs with a four-wicket win. In her debut series, she aggregated 197 runs at 39.60 with a strike rate of 70.86.
During the 2006–07 season, Poulton played in all 11 of New South Wales' WNCL matches, scoring 227 runs at 20.63. New South Wales struggled in the first four round-robin matches, losing three. In the fifth match, against Western Australia, Poulton scored 64 to set up a six-wicket victory. New South Wales won their last four matches to qualify in second place for the final, which was hosted by Victoria. Poulton scored 17 and 39 in the first two matches, both times being run out. New South Wales scraped home by one wicket in the first match, but the hosts levelled the series with an eight-wicket win the next day. In the third game, she made only nine, but New South Wales eventually reached the target of 206 with three wickets in hand to take the finals 2–1. Poulton took her first WNCL wicket in the season, bowling a full quota of ten overs against Western Australia, taking 1/23. Her maiden wicket was Avril Fahey, trapped leg before wicket
. She ended the season with one wicket at 63.00 at an economy rate of 3.50.
After the end of the Australian season, Poulton was selected for the ODI team the ICC Women's Quadrangular Series
in Chennai
, India
. In addition to the hosts and Australia, New Zealand and England were also participating, and each team played each other twice in the round-robin phase. Poulton scored only 8 and 0 from 21 and 8 balls respectively as Australia lost their first two matches against New Zealand and India respectively. She was then dropped for the next two games. She was recalled for the penultimate round-robin match against England but did not bat in a six-wicket win, and then made 27 as Australia defeated India by four wickets in the last match. The Australians needed 231 for victory—4.62 runs per over—and Poulton got their innings off to a slow start, taking 75 balls to accumulate her runs, scoring at less than half of the required rate. However, her teammates sped up and reached the target from the last ball of the match to qualify for the final against New Zealand. Australia won by six wickets with the dropped Poulton watching from the sidelines. She ended the series with 35 runs at 11.66 with a strike rate of only 33.65, was then overlooked for the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand held in Darwin
in July.
from the first ball of the innings from Lauren Ebsary
as New South Wales lost the match by 37 runs. Poulton ended the season with four wickets at 8.75 at an economy rate of 3.75. New South Wales reached the final and were awarded the title because they placed first in the qualifying matches after rain washed out the deciding game without a ball being bowled. She also played in two Twenty20
interstate matches, top-scoring with 69 in the first match against South Australia, before making 35 against Western Australia; New South Wales won both games. After her poor WNCL season, Poulton was overlooked for Australian selection for the home series against England and then the Rose Bowl tour of New Zealand that followed.
During the Australian winter of 2008, Poulton travelled to England and played for Nottinghamshire in the Women's County Championship
. After making a duck on debut for the county, she made 68 in the next match against Sussex and ended her stay with 150 runs at 25.00 from six matches. She bowled 20.4 overs for the county, taking a total of 0/95. She was in better form for the Sapphires in the Super Fours
, scoring three half-centuries in four innings and ending with 215 runs at 53.75 in four List A matches. She also top-scored in both T20 matches for the Sapphires, making 32 and 47. She also took 2/23 in the latter match, dismissing Jenny Gunn
and Laura Marsh
.
These performances earned Poulton a recall for the five-match home ODI series against India ahead of the 2008–09 Australian season, which the hosts swept easily; the margins of victory in each match were at least 54 runs or seven wickets. After making a duck in the T20 international that preceded the ODIs, Poulton played in the first four ODIs. She scored 79 runs at 26.33 but scored at the slow strike rate of 47.87. This resulted in her being dropped down the order from an opening position for the fourth match; her teammates reached the victory target before she was required and she was then omitted for the final match. Poulton took her maiden international wicket in the fourth match at Manuka Oval
in Canberra
, trapping Indian wicket-keeper
Anagha Deshpande
lbw. She ended the series with a total of 1/63.
Poulton had her most productive season in the WNCL in 2008–09 ahead of the 2009 World Cup
, scoring 376 runs at 41.77. She posted two half-centuries in the first four matches, resulting in eight-wicket wins over Queensland and Western Australia respectively. She then made fifties in each of the last three round-robin matches. This included 60 and 53 against Victoria in the last two games, which New South Wales won win by nine and three wickets respectively. New South Wales thus earned the right to host the final against the same team, and Poulton made 43 as they chased down 118 and won the title by six wickets. Poulton totalled 0/48 from 11 overs during the WNCL. She also played in two Twenty20
interstate matches, scoring 23 and 35. New South Wales won the first before losing by one wicket to Victoria in the second.
In two warm-up matches ahead of the World Cup in Australia, Poulton made 24 and 49 against England and Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, she was left out of the team for the opening match against New Zealand, which Australia lost. Poulton was recalled for the two remaining group matches against South Africa and the West Indies. The hosts won both matches to reach the next round, but Poulton struggled. Playing out of position in the middle-order, she made nine from 21 balls against South Africa in her home town of Newcastle; restored to the top of the order, she made a duck against the West Indies. Poulton was then dropped for Australia's first match of the next phase against India, which they lost. She was recalled for the next match and scored 47 against Pakistan, putting on 100 for the first wicket with Shelley Nitschke
before the latter was bowled
. Poulton was then bowled herself, the third time in as many ODIs that she had been dismissed in such a manner. Australia reached 6/229 in their 50 overs, and Poulton then took 2/9, claiming the lower-order wickets of Javeria Khan
and Qanita Jalil
as the hosts won by 107 runs. She then hit 38 from 47 balls, including a six, in the final Super Six match against England. This helped set up Australia's successful run-chase but it was not enough to rank them among the top two nations and qualify them for the final. They faced India in the playoff for third place and Poulton was bowled by Jhulan Goswami
for a duck. The hosts were all out for 142 and India reached the target with three wickets in hand. Poulton ended her campaign with 94 runs at 18.80 and took a total of 2/17 from five overs.
Poulton was selected for the 2009 World Twenty20
in England
and Australia hosted New Zealand for three T20 matches in tropical Brisbane
during the southern hemisphere winter before the teams departed for the tournament. Poulton scored 4, 33 and 30 as Australia took the series 2–1. Once the Australians were in England, Poulton top-scored with 66 and took 1/7 against the hosts in her only innings in the pre-tournament practice matches. Poulton made only two and eight in Australia's first two pool matches against New Zealand and the West Indies; Australia lost the first by nine wickets and won the second by eight wickets. In the final pool match, against South Africa, Australia needed a victory to progress. Batting first, she scored 22 before being run out
as Australia made 6/164 from their 20 overs. In reply, South Africa were on track to reach the target, having reached 0/73 after seven overs. Poulton trapped Shandre Fritz
for 39 with the first ball of the next over, and the South Africans lost momentum, scoring only 41 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the next ten overs. On the last ball of the 17th over, Poulton trapped opposition captain Sunette Loubser
and ended with 2/20 from three overs as Australia prevailed by 24 runs to reach the semi-finals, where they faced England. Poulton scored 39 to push Australia to 5/163 but the hosts reached the target with eight wickets in hand and progressed to the final, which they won.
—the reigning world champions in both ODIs and T20s—after the end of the World Twenty20. Poulton scored 33 and took two catches as Australia upset England in the only T20 by 34 runs. She played in all of the five ODIs, but was not successful, being dismissed for single-digit scores every time and ending with 26 runs at 5.20. She struggled to make an effective start in the matches, with a strike rate of 35.00 or less in each of her five innings and 29.54 overall. England won all the matches except the last, which was ended by persistent rain. Poulton made her Test debut against England in a one-off match at New Road
in Worcester
. Australia batted first and Poulton came in at No. 6. She lasted only 14 balls before being bowled by paceman Katherine Brunt
for 1. This was part of a batting collapse that left the tourists at 5/28, but they recovered to reach 309. Poulton then bowled four overs in the first innings, taking 0/15. She took her first catch in Tests, removing Claire Taylor
from the bowling of Lauren Ebsary
. Australia took a 41-run lead and Poulton then scored 23 from 41 balls before being run out as the match ended in a draw.
Poulton had a modest WNCL in 2009–10, scoring 215 runs at 21.50. She reached double figures in nine of 11 innings, but was unable to convert the starts into large scores. Her highest score for the season was 42 against the Australian Capital Territory
. She made 31, her second best effort of the competition, in the final, as New South Wales defeated Victoria by 59 runs to take their fifth WNCL title in a row. She had more success in the new T20 domestic competition, scoring 201 runs at 28.71. She top-scored with 58 in a seven-run defeat at the hands of Victoria and then made 38 in a nine-wicket win over South Australia. However, she made only six in the final as Victoria dismissed New South Wales for 75 to win by 52 runs.
After the domestic competition ended, Poulton played in the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand. She was omitted from the first two ODIs at the Adelaide Oval
before being recalled for the last three matches held at the Junction Oval
in Melbourne
; Rachael Haynes
was moved from an opening position into the middle-order to make way for Poulton. After making a duck in her first innings back, Poulton struck an unbeaten 104 from 116 balls in the fourth match, hitting nine fours and three sixes, putting on an unbroken opening stand of 163 with Shelley Nitschke
as the Australians won by ten wickets. She made seven in the final match as the Australians completed a 5–0 sweep of the home ODI leg of the series. Poulton had little success in the T20s in Australia, scoring 0, 24 and 1 as the tourists bounced back to claim a whitewash. She then scored only one in the first T20 during the New Zealand leg of the tour and was left out for the second match, which the hosts won to sweep the T20s. Poulton played in all three ODIs in New Zealand, scoring 7, 47 and 31 as the Australians again swept the 50-over matches. In the second match at Invercargill
, she struck seven boundaries in her 54-ball innings to help Australia make a rapid start to their chase of 256. In the final match, Australia faced a target of only 174 and Poulton hit 28 of her 31 runs from fours in a 16-ball innings, scoring almost two runs per ball. Australia won both of the last two matches by six wickets.
in the West Indies and played in every match. With the selection of Elyse Villani
to open with Nitschke, Poulton batted at No. 3 in all but one match. In the first warm-up match, she scored one from six balls before being dismissed by Sian Ruck
as Australia lost to New Zealand by 18 runs. In the last warm-up match, she hammered 44 from 21 balls including two sixes and then took a catch to remove Armaan Khan
as Australians made 5/166 and defeated Pakistan by 82 runs.
Australia were grouped with England, South Africa and the West Indies. In the first match against England, Poulton ran out Laura Marsh
, triggering the loss of the last four wickets without the addition of a run, in six balls, leaving 15 deliveries unused. In pursuit of 105 for victory, Poulton top-scored for Australia with 23 from 28 balls, helping to stabilise the innings after the Australians had fallen to 2/10. However she fell at 4/45, bowled by Holly Colvin
, and eventually, Rene Farrell
was run out
going for the winning run from the third last ball available, leaving the scores tied.
A Super Over eventuated, and Marsh bowled for England. Farrell and Poulton batted for Australia. Poulton scored a single off the first ball she faced, before being caught by Colvin on the fourth ball. This left Australia at 1/4 and they ended at 2/6. England also ended with 2/6 after a run out in an attempt to secure the winning run on the final ball. Australia was awarded the match because they had hit more sixes in the match—Jess Cameron
scored the solitary six.
In the next match against South Africa, Poulton came in at 1/9 after the fall of Villani at the end of the first over. She counter-attacked with Nitschke, scoring 39 runs herself from only 25 balls, including two sixes. The pair put on 58 from only 37 balls before Poulton was caught from the first ball of the eighth over. Australia collapsed and lost 6/16 including the last four wickets for four runs to be all out for 155 with three balls unused, before completing a 22-run win. In the final group match against the West Indies, Poulton came in at 1/33 and hit 15 from 13 balls, including three fours. Australia finished on 7/133 and won by nine runs to finish the group stage unbeaten at the top of their quartet.
Australia went on to face India in the semi-final. Chasing a target of 120, Poulton came in to join captain Blackwell—who had promoted herself up the order—at 2/75, with 45 runs needed from 56 balls. Poulton hit 30 from 26 balls to seal an Australian victory with seven wickets and seven balls to spare. She brought up the winning runs with a lofted drive that bounced once before going for four runs. In the final against New Zealand, Australia started poorly after electing to bat. Nitschke fell in the third over to bring Poulton in at 1/10, before Villani and Blackwell fell quickly to leave Australia at 3/20 in the sixth over. This was followed by a consolidating partnership of 30 between Poulton and Cameron, but they were unable to lift the run rate
substantially; their stand took 45 balls. Poulton was caught trying to loft a ball over cover, and two balls later, Cameron was bowled, leaving Australia at 5/51 in the 13th over. Only Poulton managed a solitary boundary. A later burst took Australia to 8/106 from their 20 overs and Poulton ended with the highest score of 20 from 28 balls. The Australians then restricted New Zealand to 6/103 to complete a three-run win. Poulton was Australian's highest run-scorer for the tournament and the third among all players.
New South Wales Breakers
The New South Wales Breakers are the women's representative cricket team for New South Wales and they compete in the Women's National Cricket League...
and Australia. She is a specialist batsman
Batting (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball with a cricket bat to score runs or prevent the loss of one's wicket. A player who is currently batting is denoted as a batsman, while the act of hitting the ball is called a shot or stroke...
who usually opens the batting
Batting order (cricket)
In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batsmen play through their team's innings, there always being two batsmen taking part at any one time...
.
Poulton came to prominence in youth cricket by captaining New South Wales to the Under-17 national championships in 2000. In 2002–03, she made her senior debut for New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket League
Women's National Cricket League
The Women's National Cricket League is the national competition for women's cricket in Australia.The league competition involves the six member teams playing each other in two 50-over limited-over matches, with the side finishing at the top of the table after the preliminary rounds earning the...
(WNCL). She found runs hard to come by in her first three seasons and was in and out of the team frequently, aggregating only 24 runs in her second and third seasons combined. Despite this, she regularly captained Australia's Under-19 and Under-23 teams during this time, leading the latter on a successful tour of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
in 2004. In 2005–06, made a substantial impact on the WNCL for the first time, scoring 325 runs, more than twice her previous best season's total, playing in the first of five consecutive WNCL triumphs for New South Wales.
Poulton was rewarded with international selection in the Rose Bowl series
Rose Bowl series
The Rose Bowl series is a series of Women's One-day International cricket matches between Australia and New Zealand that has been running since February 1985. It was originally known as the Shell Rose Bowl and the name was changed to the Rose Bowl Series as recently as 2001.Until 2000, the...
against New Zealand at the start of the 2006–07 season and scored her maiden century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
, 101, in the third match. However, after a poor tour of India at the end of the season, she was dropped from the Australian team in mid 2007 and continued to be overlooked after a poor WNCL season in 2007–08. During the 2008 Australian winter, she travelled to play for Nottinghamshire in England, and earned herself a recall to the Australian team at the start of the 2008–09 southern hemisphere season. After scoring 376 runs at a batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
of 41.77 in the 2008–09 WNCL, Poulton retained her position in the national team for the 2009 Women's Cricket World Cup
2009 Women's Cricket World Cup
The 2009 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the tournament and was held in Australia from 7 to 22 March 2009, using the sport's One Day International format....
and the 2009 World Twenty20. She was a regular member of the playing team in both tournaments, participating all the matches in the latter. In 2009, Poulton made her Test
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
debut against England and in 2009–10, she hit her second ODI century, 104 not out against New Zealand.
Youth cricket
Poulton is from Elermore ValeElermore Vale, New South Wales
Elermore Vale is a suburb on the western outskirts of Newcastle, New South Wales. Before becoming a residential suburb in the 1900s, the area was used for chicken farming, cattle farming, and coal mining...
in the New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
coastal city of Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
, and plays for the Wallsend Cricket Club in the city. She attended Lambton High School
Lambton High School
Lambton High School is a state run high school in the suburb of Lambton in Newcastle, New South Wales operated by the New South Wales Department of Education and Training...
and outside of cricket, she works as a physical education teacher.
In March 2000, soon after turning 16, she played for New South Wales in the national Under-17 championships. She scored 141 runs at a batting average
Batting average
Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...
of 23.50 and took two wicket
Wicket
In the sport of cricket the word wicket has several distinct meanings:-Definitions of wicket:Most of the time, the wicket is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch...
s at a bowling average
Bowling average
Bowling average is a statistic measuring the performance of bowlers in the sport of cricket.A bowler's bowling average is defined as the total number of runs conceded by the bowlers divided by the number of wickets taken by the bowler, so the lower the average the better. It is similar to earned...
of 15.50 as New South Wales defeated Victoria Blue to win the competition. In January 2002, she was selected for the state Under-19 team and scored 112 in the first match, against the Australian Capital Territory. She also made two ducks
Duck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
and ended the tournament with 188 runs at 31.33; New South Wales won all of their six matches.
Senior domestic debut
At the start of the 2002–03 season, Poulton made her senior debut for New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket LeagueWomen's National Cricket League
The Women's National Cricket League is the national competition for women's cricket in Australia.The league competition involves the six member teams playing each other in two 50-over limited-over matches, with the side finishing at the top of the table after the preliminary rounds earning the...
in a double-header against South Australia
South Australian Scorpions
The South Australian Scorpions are the women's representative cricket team for South AustraliaThe Scorpions have played 102 matches for 44 wins, 2 no results and 56 losses.- External links :* Official Website of the * Official Website of...
. In her first match, she scored 12 in five-wicket victory. Playing in ten matches, she made many starts, reaching double figures in all but one of her nine innings, but managed only a best score of 36 run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
, against Western Australia
Western Fury
The Western Fury is the representative women's cricket team of Western Australia and is based in Perth, Western Australia. Their home ground is the WACA Ground, although from 2011/2012 they will also play games at Murdoch University....
. She ended the WNCL season with 159 runs at 19.87 as New South Wales came second, ending a run of six consecutive titles. Victoria
Victorian Spirit
The Victorian Spirit are the women's representative cricket team for Victoria and they compete in the Women's National Cricket League. They are one of only two sides to win a WNCL title - 2002/3 & 2004/5....
qualified first and thus hosted the finals, defeating New South Wales 2–0 in a best-of-three series. Poulton made only 1 and 11 in the deciding matches, which were lost by 3 wickets and 40 runs respectively.
During the season, Poulton also played in the Under-19 interstate tournament during the break in the WNCL, captaining her state. In five innings, she made three half-centuries, with a best of 73 against Queensland in the final, which New South Wales won by five wickets. She was unbeaten in the other two fifties after opening the batting; New South Wales completed ten-wicket wins in both instances. Poulton ended the competition with 191 runs at 63.66. She was rewarded with selection in and captaincy of the national Under-19 team during the season and played in two matches against England Under-19s, scoring 13 and 35 as Australia won both matches. At the end of the season, she was selected to lead an Australian Under-23 team to play against the senior England team. Poulton made 15 in her only innings.
Poulton had an interrupted season in 2003–04. After playing in the first two matches against Western Australia, scoring only 3 not out and 1 as New South Wales took both matches, she was absent until the finals series. Victoria had qualified first and hosted the three-match series. Poulton was omitted for the first match, which was won by the home team, before being recalled for the second match. She made 1 and 11 as New South Wales won the last two fixtures by five and three wickets respectively to claim the title. However, Poulton contributed little to the team's triumph, managing only 16 runs at 5.33. At the end of the season she was appointed captain of the Australian Youth team and played in four matches against New Zealand A, scoring 127 runs at 31.75 with a best of 75 in the second of these fixtures. Sarah Tsukigawa
Sarah Tsukigawa
Sarah Jane Tsukigawa is a New Zealand cricketer who plays for the White Ferns and the Otago Sparks in the State League.She is a right-handed batter who bowls Right-arm medium pace. She has played 12 ODIs...
had success against Poulton, dismissing her three times in a row. Australia won all but the last match.
Poulton was then made captain of the Australian Under-23 team for a tour of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
in September 2004. The tourists played four one-dayers against the host nation's senior team and won all but the abandoned third match. In the second match, Poulton scored 14 and took her first wicket against senior opposition after bowling for the first time at the level. She made her top-score of the series with 48 in the third fixture, and made 33 and took 2/10 in the fourth match. Poulton then made her debut in non-one-day cricket against the Sri Lankans, scoring 10 before being run out. After Australia took a 102-run lead, she top-scored with 40 before declaring at 8/150 and leading the team to a 140-run win. She took a total of 0/24 from 10 overs
Over (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, an over is a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession. An over is normally bowled by a single bowler. However, in the event of injury preventing a bowler from completing an over, it is completed by a teammate....
.
After playing in the first four matches of the 2004–05 WNCL season, Poulton missed three matches in a row before playing her final match of the season against Queensland
Queensland Fire
The Queensland Fire are the women's representative cricket team for Queensland and they compete in the Women's National Cricket League.The Fire has played 104 matches for 36 wins, 1 tie, 4 no results and 63 losses.-External links:*The Homepage of...
and being dropped for the three finals matches against Victoria. New South Wales lost the finals 2–1 after finishing the regular season first and earning the right to host the series. Poulton batted only three times and accumulated eight runs at 4.00 but New South Wales nevertheless won all of these five matches.
Poulton returned to form in the 2005–06 WNCL season, playing in all of New South Wales' 11 matches. After being run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
for 39 in the first match against Western Australia, she made consecutive half-centuries against Western Australia and Queensland. New South Wales won seven of their eight round-robin matches to qualify to host the three-match finals series against Queensland. Up to this point, Poulton had only scored 24 runs at 6.00 in four WNCL finals matches and had been dropped ahead of the deciding series the previous season. In the first match at North Sydney Oval
North Sydney Oval
-Development:* The first cricket pitch was laid on 6 December 1867, making it one of the oldest cricket grounds in Australia.* The first structure built, in 1879, was a simple pavilion overlooking the cricket ground...
, Poulton top-scored with an unbeaten 70 to guide New South Wales to their target of 175 for an eight-wicket win. She made 28 of her state's 154 as Queensland took the series to a deciding match with a three-wicket win in the second match. Poulton was dismissed for five in the deciding match as New South Wales were bowled out for 146, before dismissing the visitors for 144 to claim a two-run win and the WNCL. She ended the season with 325 runs at 32.50 as New South Wales won 9 of their 11 matches to claim the title. Poulton bowled for the first time in the WNCL, conceding 18 runs from two overs.
International debut
These performances were not enough to gain selection in the Test and one-day series against India held in AdelaideAdelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
immediately after the WNCL. However, Poulton was called up for her senior international debut against New Zealand in the Rose Bowl series
Rose Bowl series
The Rose Bowl series is a series of Women's One-day International cricket matches between Australia and New Zealand that has been running since February 1985. It was originally known as the Shell Rose Bowl and the name was changed to the Rose Bowl Series as recently as 2001.Until 2000, the...
staged at Allan Border Field
Allan Border Field
Allan Border Field is a small cricket ground in the Brisbane suburb of Albion in Queensland. The Australian Cricket Academy has been based at the oval since 2004 using it as a base for the development of elite cricketers throughout Australia....
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
at the start of the 2006–07 season because of an injury to fellow New South Wales batsman Alex Blackwell
Alex Blackwell (cricketer)
Alexandra Joy Blackwell is a female cricketer who plays for New South Wales and Australia as a specialist batsman. Her identical twin sister Kate has also played for Australia....
. The chairman of selectors Margaret Jennings
Margaret Jennings
Margaret Jean Jennings captained the Australia national women's cricket team in one Test match. A right-handed batswoman and wicket-keeper, she played 8 Tests in all, scoring 341 runs with a best of 104, her only century....
said "She is a talented player with a free-flowing game, and we are keen to see how she performs against New Zealand, whom we expect to provide some very tough competition." Poulton played in all of the matches. She made 10 in her Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
international debut and the match ended in a tie.
In her One Day International (ODI) debut, Poulton opened the batting with Melissa Bulow
Melissa Bulow
Melissa Jane Bulow is an Australian cricketer. She has appeared in two Test matches and 19 ODIs for her country....
and occupied the crease for nine balls before being trapped leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
by Sarah Burke for a duck. This left Australia at 1/0 with after 21 balls; the hosts eventually scraped home for a one-run victory. Poulton said that she was "way too nervous" during her maiden innings. She scored her first ODI runs in the following match, making 16 from 25 balls with 4 fours as the hosts won by a single wicket with a ball to spare. In the third match, Poulton scored her maiden ODI century, 101 from 136 balls, including seven fours and a six. Australia went on to seal the series with a five-run win. She then made 68 from 76 balls—including ten fours—in the next match before being run out, laying the foundation for Australia's 9/252 and a 85-run win. Poulton made only 12 in the final match as the hosts completed a clean sweep of the ODIs with a four-wicket win. In her debut series, she aggregated 197 runs at 39.60 with a strike rate of 70.86.
During the 2006–07 season, Poulton played in all 11 of New South Wales' WNCL matches, scoring 227 runs at 20.63. New South Wales struggled in the first four round-robin matches, losing three. In the fifth match, against Western Australia, Poulton scored 64 to set up a six-wicket victory. New South Wales won their last four matches to qualify in second place for the final, which was hosted by Victoria. Poulton scored 17 and 39 in the first two matches, both times being run out. New South Wales scraped home by one wicket in the first match, but the hosts levelled the series with an eight-wicket win the next day. In the third game, she made only nine, but New South Wales eventually reached the target of 206 with three wickets in hand to take the finals 2–1. Poulton took her first WNCL wicket in the season, bowling a full quota of ten overs against Western Australia, taking 1/23. Her maiden wicket was Avril Fahey, trapped leg before wicket
Leg before wicket
In the sport of cricket, leg before wicket is one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's...
. She ended the season with one wicket at 63.00 at an economy rate of 3.50.
After the end of the Australian season, Poulton was selected for the ODI team the ICC Women's Quadrangular Series
ICC Women's Quadrangular Series in India in 2006/07
The ICC Women's Quadrangular Series in India in 2006/07 was a four team One Day International tournament involving the national teams of Australia, England, India and New Zealand...
in Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. In addition to the hosts and Australia, New Zealand and England were also participating, and each team played each other twice in the round-robin phase. Poulton scored only 8 and 0 from 21 and 8 balls respectively as Australia lost their first two matches against New Zealand and India respectively. She was then dropped for the next two games. She was recalled for the penultimate round-robin match against England but did not bat in a six-wicket win, and then made 27 as Australia defeated India by four wickets in the last match. The Australians needed 231 for victory—4.62 runs per over—and Poulton got their innings off to a slow start, taking 75 balls to accumulate her runs, scoring at less than half of the required rate. However, her teammates sped up and reached the target from the last ball of the match to qualify for the final against New Zealand. Australia won by six wickets with the dropped Poulton watching from the sidelines. She ended the series with 35 runs at 11.66 with a strike rate of only 33.65, was then overlooked for the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand held in Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...
in July.
International omission and recall
Poulton struggled in the eight WNCL matches during the 2007–08 season, scoring 106 runs at 13.25 with a best of 39 against Western Australia. She took her best bowling figures at senior level, claiming 3/10 in the second match against Western Australia. Poulton captured three lower-order wickets in quick succession as Western Australia lost 4/10 to be all out for 141. However, Poulton was then bowled for a golden duckDuck (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a duck refers to a batsman's dismissal for a score of zero.-Origin of the term:The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began...
from the first ball of the innings from Lauren Ebsary
Lauren Ebsary
Lauren Kaye Ebsary is an Australian cricketer. Primarily a batsman, she is a current member of the Australia national women's cricket team....
as New South Wales lost the match by 37 runs. Poulton ended the season with four wickets at 8.75 at an economy rate of 3.75. New South Wales reached the final and were awarded the title because they placed first in the qualifying matches after rain washed out the deciding game without a ball being bowled. She also played in two Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
interstate matches, top-scoring with 69 in the first match against South Australia, before making 35 against Western Australia; New South Wales won both games. After her poor WNCL season, Poulton was overlooked for Australian selection for the home series against England and then the Rose Bowl tour of New Zealand that followed.
During the Australian winter of 2008, Poulton travelled to England and played for Nottinghamshire in the Women's County Championship
Women's County Championship
The Women's County Championship is the women's domestic cricket league in the British Isles...
. After making a duck on debut for the county, she made 68 in the next match against Sussex and ended her stay with 150 runs at 25.00 from six matches. She bowled 20.4 overs for the county, taking a total of 0/95. She was in better form for the Sapphires in the Super Fours
Super Fours
The Super Fours are a women's cricket competition in England that has been run annually since 2001.The England selectors choose 48 leading players and put them into four teams...
, scoring three half-centuries in four innings and ending with 215 runs at 53.75 in four List A matches. She also top-scored in both T20 matches for the Sapphires, making 32 and 47. She also took 2/23 in the latter match, dismissing Jenny Gunn
Jenny Gunn
Jennifer Louise Gunn is an English cricketer and a member of the current England women's team. A medium pace bowler and lower middle order batsman, she is the daughter of former Nottingham Forest player Bryn Gunn. She plays for Nottinghamshire and Western Australia and made her Test debut at 17...
and Laura Marsh
Laura Marsh
Laura Alexandra Marsh is an English cricketer. She began playing cricket at 11 and started her career as a medium pace bowler but found greater success when she switched to off spin. She plays country cricket for Sussex, represents the Rubies and made her Test debut against India in 2006...
.
These performances earned Poulton a recall for the five-match home ODI series against India ahead of the 2008–09 Australian season, which the hosts swept easily; the margins of victory in each match were at least 54 runs or seven wickets. After making a duck in the T20 international that preceded the ODIs, Poulton played in the first four ODIs. She scored 79 runs at 26.33 but scored at the slow strike rate of 47.87. This resulted in her being dropped down the order from an opening position for the fourth match; her teammates reached the victory target before she was required and she was then omitted for the final match. Poulton took her maiden international wicket in the fourth match at Manuka Oval
Manuka Oval
Manuka Oval is a 13,550 capacity ground located in the suburb of Griffith, adjacent to Manuka, a business district of Canberra, Australia's capital....
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, trapping Indian wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
Anagha Deshpande
Anagha Deshpande
Anagha Deshpande is a cricketer who has played in 12 women's One Day Internationals and seven Twenty20 internationals for India.-References:...
lbw. She ended the series with a total of 1/63.
Poulton had her most productive season in the WNCL in 2008–09 ahead of the 2009 World Cup
2009 Women's Cricket World Cup
The 2009 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the tournament and was held in Australia from 7 to 22 March 2009, using the sport's One Day International format....
, scoring 376 runs at 41.77. She posted two half-centuries in the first four matches, resulting in eight-wicket wins over Queensland and Western Australia respectively. She then made fifties in each of the last three round-robin matches. This included 60 and 53 against Victoria in the last two games, which New South Wales won win by nine and three wickets respectively. New South Wales thus earned the right to host the final against the same team, and Poulton made 43 as they chased down 118 and won the title by six wickets. Poulton totalled 0/48 from 11 overs during the WNCL. She also played in two Twenty20
Twenty20
Twenty20 is a form of cricket, originally introduced in England for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board , in 2003. A Twenty20 game involves two teams, each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs. Twenty20 cricket is also known as T20 cricket...
interstate matches, scoring 23 and 35. New South Wales won the first before losing by one wicket to Victoria in the second.
World Cup
Australia toured New Zealand before the World Cup, and Poulton was dropped into the middle-order. She made four in the first two matches, both of which the hosts won. She struggled in these matches, taking 15 and 18 balls to score the four runs in either ODI, was omitted for the third match. She then returned to her customary opening position and scored 81 from 97 balls, including 11 fours, in the fourth match, helping to set up an Australia victory by 44 runs. The fifth match of the series was abandoned.In two warm-up matches ahead of the World Cup in Australia, Poulton made 24 and 49 against England and Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, she was left out of the team for the opening match against New Zealand, which Australia lost. Poulton was recalled for the two remaining group matches against South Africa and the West Indies. The hosts won both matches to reach the next round, but Poulton struggled. Playing out of position in the middle-order, she made nine from 21 balls against South Africa in her home town of Newcastle; restored to the top of the order, she made a duck against the West Indies. Poulton was then dropped for Australia's first match of the next phase against India, which they lost. She was recalled for the next match and scored 47 against Pakistan, putting on 100 for the first wicket with Shelley Nitschke
Shelley Nitschke
Shelley Nitschke is a female cricketer who plays for South Australia and Australia. A left-handed batsman and left arm orthodox spinner, she is one of the leading all-rounders in the world....
before the latter was bowled
Bowled
Bowled is a method of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. This method of dismissal is covered by Law 30 of the Laws of cricket.A batsman is out bowled if his wicket is put down by a ball delivered by the bowler...
. Poulton was then bowled herself, the third time in as many ODIs that she had been dismissed in such a manner. Australia reached 6/229 in their 50 overs, and Poulton then took 2/9, claiming the lower-order wickets of Javeria Khan
Javeria Khan
Javeria Khan is a female Pakistani cricketer from Karachi, Sindh. She is played in Pakistan national women's cricket team as All-rounder. She also played the ICC Women's World Cup 2009. She played International level as well as Domestic level....
and Qanita Jalil
Qanita Jalil
Qanita Jalil is a female Pakistani cricketer. Jalil was born in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and represents the Pakistan women's team....
as the hosts won by 107 runs. She then hit 38 from 47 balls, including a six, in the final Super Six match against England. This helped set up Australia's successful run-chase but it was not enough to rank them among the top two nations and qualify them for the final. They faced India in the playoff for third place and Poulton was bowled by Jhulan Goswami
Jhulan Goswami
Jhulan Goswami is an all round cricketer who plays for the India national women's cricket team, Bengal Women, East Zone Women as well as the Asia Women XI women's cricket team. She is currently the Indian Women's cricket team captain...
for a duck. The hosts were all out for 142 and India reached the target with three wickets in hand. Poulton ended her campaign with 94 runs at 18.80 and took a total of 2/17 from five overs.
Poulton was selected for the 2009 World Twenty20
2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20
The 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20 competition took on a different format from that of the men's, having eight teams split into two pools followed directly by the semi-finals and final. All pool stage matches were played at the County Ground in Taunton...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Australia hosted New Zealand for three T20 matches in tropical Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
during the southern hemisphere winter before the teams departed for the tournament. Poulton scored 4, 33 and 30 as Australia took the series 2–1. Once the Australians were in England, Poulton top-scored with 66 and took 1/7 against the hosts in her only innings in the pre-tournament practice matches. Poulton made only two and eight in Australia's first two pool matches against New Zealand and the West Indies; Australia lost the first by nine wickets and won the second by eight wickets. In the final pool match, against South Africa, Australia needed a victory to progress. Batting first, she scored 22 before being run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
as Australia made 6/164 from their 20 overs. In reply, South Africa were on track to reach the target, having reached 0/73 after seven overs. Poulton trapped Shandre Fritz
Shandre Fritz
Shandre Alvida Fritz is an international cricketer who has made 30 One Day International and 8 Twenty20 International appearances for South Africa national women's cricket team since 2003...
for 39 with the first ball of the next over, and the South Africans lost momentum, scoring only 41 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the next ten overs. On the last ball of the 17th over, Poulton trapped opposition captain Sunette Loubser
Sunette Loubser
Sunette Loubser is a South African cricketer and the current captain of the South African national women's cricket team....
and ended with 2/20 from three overs as Australia prevailed by 24 runs to reach the semi-finals, where they faced England. Poulton scored 39 to push Australia to 5/163 but the hosts reached the target with eight wickets in hand and progressed to the final, which they won.
Test debut
Australia stayed in England for a bilateral series against the hostsAustralian women's cricket team in England in 2009
The Australian women's cricket team toured England between 25 June and 13 July 2009, playing one Test match, five One Day Internationals and a Twenty20 International....
—the reigning world champions in both ODIs and T20s—after the end of the World Twenty20. Poulton scored 33 and took two catches as Australia upset England in the only T20 by 34 runs. She played in all of the five ODIs, but was not successful, being dismissed for single-digit scores every time and ending with 26 runs at 5.20. She struggled to make an effective start in the matches, with a strike rate of 35.00 or less in each of her five innings and 29.54 overall. England won all the matches except the last, which was ended by persistent rain. Poulton made her Test debut against England in a one-off match at New Road
New Road, Worcester
New Road, Worcester, England, has been the home cricket ground of Worcestershire County Cricket Club since 1896. Immediately to the northwest is a road called New Road, part of the A44, hence the name.- Overview :...
in Worcester
Worcester
The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...
. Australia batted first and Poulton came in at No. 6. She lasted only 14 balls before being bowled by paceman Katherine Brunt
Katherine Brunt
Katherine Helen Brunt is an English cricketer and member of the current England women's team. In 2006, she was named England women's Cricketer of the Year and again in 2010 ....
for 1. This was part of a batting collapse that left the tourists at 5/28, but they recovered to reach 309. Poulton then bowled four overs in the first innings, taking 0/15. She took her first catch in Tests, removing Claire Taylor
Claire Taylor
Samantha Claire Taylor MBE is a former English cricketer and retired member of the England women's team. A determined batsman, with almost 3,500 runs in over a hundred One Day International appearances, she was the top ranked female ODI batsman in the world going into the 2009 Women's World Cup...
from the bowling of Lauren Ebsary
Lauren Ebsary
Lauren Kaye Ebsary is an Australian cricketer. Primarily a batsman, she is a current member of the Australia national women's cricket team....
. Australia took a 41-run lead and Poulton then scored 23 from 41 balls before being run out as the match ended in a draw.
Poulton had a modest WNCL in 2009–10, scoring 215 runs at 21.50. She reached double figures in nine of 11 innings, but was unable to convert the starts into large scores. Her highest score for the season was 42 against the Australian Capital Territory
ACT Meteors
The ACT Meteors are the women's representative cricket team for the Australian Capital Territory and they compete in the Women's National Cricket League. The Meteors were granted entry to the Women's National Cricket League for the 2009-10 season, they previously competed in the Cricket Australia Cup...
. She made 31, her second best effort of the competition, in the final, as New South Wales defeated Victoria by 59 runs to take their fifth WNCL title in a row. She had more success in the new T20 domestic competition, scoring 201 runs at 28.71. She top-scored with 58 in a seven-run defeat at the hands of Victoria and then made 38 in a nine-wicket win over South Australia. However, she made only six in the final as Victoria dismissed New South Wales for 75 to win by 52 runs.
After the domestic competition ended, Poulton played in the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand. She was omitted from the first two ODIs at the Adelaide Oval
Adelaide Oval
The Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the Central Business District and North Adelaide...
before being recalled for the last three matches held at the Junction Oval
Junction Oval
The Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
; Rachael Haynes
Rachael Haynes
Rachael Louise Haynes is a female Australian cricketer. Predominantly a batsman, she is a member of the Australian team. Haynes plays for Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League ....
was moved from an opening position into the middle-order to make way for Poulton. After making a duck in her first innings back, Poulton struck an unbeaten 104 from 116 balls in the fourth match, hitting nine fours and three sixes, putting on an unbroken opening stand of 163 with Shelley Nitschke
Shelley Nitschke
Shelley Nitschke is a female cricketer who plays for South Australia and Australia. A left-handed batsman and left arm orthodox spinner, she is one of the leading all-rounders in the world....
as the Australians won by ten wickets. She made seven in the final match as the Australians completed a 5–0 sweep of the home ODI leg of the series. Poulton had little success in the T20s in Australia, scoring 0, 24 and 1 as the tourists bounced back to claim a whitewash. She then scored only one in the first T20 during the New Zealand leg of the tour and was left out for the second match, which the hosts won to sweep the T20s. Poulton played in all three ODIs in New Zealand, scoring 7, 47 and 31 as the Australians again swept the 50-over matches. In the second match at Invercargill
Invercargill
Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff,...
, she struck seven boundaries in her 54-ball innings to help Australia make a rapid start to their chase of 256. In the final match, Australia faced a target of only 174 and Poulton hit 28 of her 31 runs from fours in a 16-ball innings, scoring almost two runs per ball. Australia won both of the last two matches by six wickets.
2010 World Twenty20 triumph
Poulton was selected for the 2010 World Twenty202010 ICC Women's World Twenty20
The 2010 ICC Women's World Twenty20 was an international Twenty20 cricket tournament which was held in the West Indies from 5 May to 16 May 2010. The group stage matches were played at the Warner Park Sporting Complex on Saint Kitts. It was won by Australia, who defeated New Zealand in the final...
in the West Indies and played in every match. With the selection of Elyse Villani
Elyse Villani
Elyse Jane Villani is an Australian women's cricketer who played one match for Australia in the 2009 ICC Women's World Twenty20. She plays for Victorian Spirit in the Women's National Cricket League.-External links:...
to open with Nitschke, Poulton batted at No. 3 in all but one match. In the first warm-up match, she scored one from six balls before being dismissed by Sian Ruck
Sian Ruck
Sian Elizabeth Ansley Ruck is a New Zealand international cricketer. She was born in December 1983 in Auckland and plays for Wellington Women and New Zealand. She made her Twenty20 debut against Australia in June 2009 and was an integral part of the New Zealand team which reached the final of the...
as Australia lost to New Zealand by 18 runs. In the last warm-up match, she hammered 44 from 21 balls including two sixes and then took a catch to remove Armaan Khan
Armaan Khan
Armaan Khan is a female Pakistani cricketer from Chaghi, Balochistan. She is playing as Wicket-keeper in Pakistan national women's cricket team. She played international matches as well as domestic matches. She also played in ICC Women's World Cup 2009. She played her first match on 6 May 2010 vs...
as Australians made 5/166 and defeated Pakistan by 82 runs.
Australia were grouped with England, South Africa and the West Indies. In the first match against England, Poulton ran out Laura Marsh
Laura Marsh
Laura Alexandra Marsh is an English cricketer. She began playing cricket at 11 and started her career as a medium pace bowler but found greater success when she switched to off spin. She plays country cricket for Sussex, represents the Rubies and made her Test debut against India in 2006...
, triggering the loss of the last four wickets without the addition of a run, in six balls, leaving 15 deliveries unused. In pursuit of 105 for victory, Poulton top-scored for Australia with 23 from 28 balls, helping to stabilise the innings after the Australians had fallen to 2/10. However she fell at 4/45, bowled by Holly Colvin
Holly Colvin
Holly Louise Colvin is an English cricketer and member of the current England women's cricket team.She currently holds the record of being the youngest Test cricketer of either sex to play for England.-School level:...
, and eventually, Rene Farrell
Rene Farrell
Rene Farrell is an Australian cricketer. A fast-medium pace bowler, she is a current member of the Australian team.Although Farrell was successful in age-group interstate cricket, she did not make her senior debut for New South Wales until late in the 2006–07 season a month before turning 20...
was run out
Run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket. It is governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket.-The rules:A batsman is out Run out if at any time while the ball is in play no part of his bat or person is grounded behind the popping crease and his wicket is fairly put down by the opposing...
going for the winning run from the third last ball available, leaving the scores tied.
A Super Over eventuated, and Marsh bowled for England. Farrell and Poulton batted for Australia. Poulton scored a single off the first ball she faced, before being caught by Colvin on the fourth ball. This left Australia at 1/4 and they ended at 2/6. England also ended with 2/6 after a run out in an attempt to secure the winning run on the final ball. Australia was awarded the match because they had hit more sixes in the match—Jess Cameron
Jess Cameron
Jessica Evelyn Cameron is an Australian cricketer. A batsman, she is a current member of the Australian women's cricket team.Cameron made her debut for Victoria in the 2006–07 Women's National Cricket League...
scored the solitary six.
In the next match against South Africa, Poulton came in at 1/9 after the fall of Villani at the end of the first over. She counter-attacked with Nitschke, scoring 39 runs herself from only 25 balls, including two sixes. The pair put on 58 from only 37 balls before Poulton was caught from the first ball of the eighth over. Australia collapsed and lost 6/16 including the last four wickets for four runs to be all out for 155 with three balls unused, before completing a 22-run win. In the final group match against the West Indies, Poulton came in at 1/33 and hit 15 from 13 balls, including three fours. Australia finished on 7/133 and won by nine runs to finish the group stage unbeaten at the top of their quartet.
Australia went on to face India in the semi-final. Chasing a target of 120, Poulton came in to join captain Blackwell—who had promoted herself up the order—at 2/75, with 45 runs needed from 56 balls. Poulton hit 30 from 26 balls to seal an Australian victory with seven wickets and seven balls to spare. She brought up the winning runs with a lofted drive that bounced once before going for four runs. In the final against New Zealand, Australia started poorly after electing to bat. Nitschke fell in the third over to bring Poulton in at 1/10, before Villani and Blackwell fell quickly to leave Australia at 3/20 in the sixth over. This was followed by a consolidating partnership of 30 between Poulton and Cameron, but they were unable to lift the run rate
Run rate
In cricket, the run rate , or runs per over is the number of runs a batsman scores in an over of 6 balls. It includes all runs, even the so-called extras awarded due to errors by the bowler. Without extras and overthrows, the maximum run rate is 36 – if every ball were struck for six and, as...
substantially; their stand took 45 balls. Poulton was caught trying to loft a ball over cover, and two balls later, Cameron was bowled, leaving Australia at 5/51 in the 13th over. Only Poulton managed a solitary boundary. A later burst took Australia to 8/106 from their 20 overs and Poulton ended with the highest score of 20 from 28 balls. The Australians then restricted New Zealand to 6/103 to complete a three-run win. Poulton was Australian's highest run-scorer for the tournament and the third among all players.