Cricket Sex Wars: Sarah Elliott reveals difficulties of playing at highest level and having family

SARAH Elliott has navigated the untrodden road of being a pregnant elite cricketer and then a mother playing at the highest level. All while working as a physiotherapist.

Sarah Elliott with first son Sam in England in 2013.

ON the way to making her maiden Test century in England a few years back, Sarah Elliott spent the lunch break expressing breast milk for her son Sam.

The 34-year-old Melburnian and now mother of two (Sam, 4 and Jacob, 20 months) has navigated the untrodden road of being a pregnant elite cricketer and then a mother playing the game at the highest level.

All while continuing to work as a physiotherapist.

Elliott returned to the game just six weeks after the birth of Sam and when he was nine months she travelled to England for the Ashes, with Cricket Australia funding travel for her husband Rob to enable her to play.

Adelaide Strikers star Sarah Elliott says her family is right behind her.

Last season she captained the Melbourne Renegades in the Women’s Big Bash League and this season she’s with WBBL’s Adelaide Strikers.

“Sometimes I wake up and think, this is far too hard and then the next day I think how exciting is this?” Elliott said of her double life.

“To play a sport that I love, especially in this era where it’s grown so much, it’s such an exciting space.

“I’ve got (husband) Rob right behind me and I’ve got a really supportive mum and dad and extended family that make it easy.

“There’s great people at Cricket Victoria, Cricket Australia and the Adelaide Strikers who have supported me the whole way, that make you go, yeah, this is possible.”

When Elliott found out she was pregnant first time around, it was just before Cricket Australia contracts were announced.

While she was reluctant to take a contract, CA encouraged her to do so.

At 12 weeks she was required to have a medical clearance to continue to play and she played a club game at about 19 weeks, but not for her state.

“I don’t mind the idea of the duty of care in disclosing you’re pregnant … I was more than happy to disclose that, in essence it didn’t affect my selection or non-selection,” she said.

“I think they were happy for me to keep playing, it was more I’d made the decision not to play any state cricket.”

Elliott thinks CA and the Australian Cricketers Association “genuinely have the best interests of the players at heart”, but she said there have been “spot fires” and there is a long way to go.

Sarah Elliott has played three Tests for her country.

Issues she says need to be worked through include maternity leave and a blanket carers allowance.

Elliott said when she had second son Jacob there was no maternity leave on offer from Cricket Victoria.

She claimed the federal government’s 18-week allowance and then had to sign a 10-month contract with Cricket Victoria, not the usual 12, as she wasn’t allowed to return to practice while receiving the government funds.

“There’s got to be something (in terms of maternity leave) and further refining of that pregnancy policy and what it looks like post-pregnancy in terms of support for mums trying to return to play,” Elliott said.

“Adelaide Strikers have been fantastic for me helping to put my family up for the time we spend in Adelaide, but at the moment it’s not consistent and that’s the biggest thing.

“At the minute it’s different for every player, as players we just really want to fight hard for something that’s a collective agreement so we know exactly where we stand.”

Originally published as Cricket Sex Wars: Sarah Elliott reveals difficulties of playing at highest level and having family