Adelaide-born Tara Ridgway reveals how she got engaged to England one-day captain Eoin Morgan
ADELAIDE is a long way from London and life on the arm of an international cricket star. But Adelaide-born Tara Ridgway wouldn’t have it any other way.
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ADELAIDE is a long way from London and life on the arm of an international cricket star.
But Adelaide-born Tara Ridgway, the new fiancee of English one-day and T20 captain Eoin Morgan, wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m learning to love it. I didn’t at first, it’s very different from both Adelaide and the Gold Coast but I love the diversity and fast-pace,” she told The Advertiser exclusively from London, where she opened up for the first time about her six-year romance with Morgan, 30.
“I love watching him achieve everything he has ever dreamt of, it inspires me to aim higher too.
“It (Adelaide) will always hold a special place in my heart, it will always be home for me but we are enjoying this period of our lives where we can live in a big city and travel the world.”
Ms Ridgway, 24, who met the English superstar on a night out in Rundle St in 2010, has lived with him in London for about two years. She said wedding planning has begun following their engagement earlier this month. Her mother, Meredith, who is holidaying in the UK, has been a big help.
“My mum is only in London with me for another week so I’m making the most of it and bouncing ideas off her,” said Ms Ridgway, daughter of State Liberal MP David Ridgway.
“We’re planning to be home in Adelaide this Christmas and are tentatively beginning to plan a wedding for next October in the break of the cricket schedule.”
Ms Ridgway was just 17 when she met the dashing Irish-born batsman in Adelaide before Christmas 2010. Morgan, then 24, was yet to establish a place in the English cricket team which was taking on Australia in the second Ashes Test at Adelaide Oval.
Ms Ridgway would only reveal they crossed paths at a “restaurant/bar on Rundle St”, but they forged an instant connection which would survive the tyranny of distance and a seven-year age gap.
A Scotch College graduate, Ms Ridgway soon left Adelaide for the Gold Coast, where she received a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts (majors in International Diplomacy and Public Relations) from Bond University in 2015.
While she knew little about cricket at the time, a teenage Ms Ridgway displayed her own sporting talent in netball, representing both SA and Australia.
Their long-distance love affair survived as Morgan’s cricket career blossomed, becoming captain of the England ODI team in 2015 and eventually the T20 squad. And always by his side is Ms Ridgway, who works with fashion house Burberry in public relations when she’s not watching her beau.
“I love my job in PR at Burberry, that really helps me get through the winter when Eoin is away playing,” she said. “I’ve become best friends with the other wives and girlfriends, we all get along amazingly.”
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