Smith scorching path around Australia

Emily Smith knows what it means to take your opportunities.

For the promising Australian Rules footballer-turned-state cricketer, it has meant a change of codes and a change of states – twice.

A talented young footballer who made her mark with Victoria’s underage teams, Smith was no stranger to success in the all-conquering state side, which won four titles with an unblemished record during her time with it.

Her fondness for stats seeps out as she recalls that earlier sporting career and the period of dominance for the Big V.

"I played in the under-18s Victorian team from 2010-2013, and we won four undefeated titles back then," she says.

"I actually haven't lost a game in Victorian colours, through under-18s and under-21s. I think in the history of Victorian women's football, they've lost two games, and that's since the '80s.

"That's pretty incredible, isn’t it?"

Smith notes that she played up until a few years ago – "until it got big" she adds wryly. But by then she had already made her call on the sporting front, pursuing a career as a wicketkeeper at cricket's elite level.

But when the AFLW launched last year, there was some temptation to follow in the footsteps of good friend and Melbourne Stars bowler Emma Kearney, who splits her time between playing with the WBBL franchise and football club Western Bulldogs.

The allure was twofold, given Smith is a Bulldogs supporter.

"It was tempting, but I don't think they had room for a stay-at-home forward pocket," she jokes. "So I thought I'd just stick to cricket."

The fact that football has clashed with her trips to play cricket for Essex in England may also have played its part.

It was an unexpected call-up from across the Bass Strait that set Smith firmly down the path of elite cricket. She was 18 when she got the call from Tasmania Roar coach Julia Price to fill in for one round.

But one round soon became a whole season, which in turn led to three summers with the southernmost team in the Women's National Cricket League.

Smith moved to Tasmania for the 2015-16 season, the first year of the Rebel WBBL, and pulled on the purple of the Hobart Hurricanes. But when she was dropped by the state team she found herself in limbo until another opportunity cropped up at just the right moment.

 

Image Id: 28AC4045446147A98AE5A3BEE7225BFD Image Caption: Smith (left) celebrates stumping Sophie Devine out when she was keeping for the Hurricanes // Getty

Perth Scorchers coach Lisa Keightley had admired Smith's game from afar and used one of the more modern methods for getting in touch with her.

"I remember sitting on a couch and I saw a Facebook message request from Lisa Keightley, and I'm a cricket nut, so of course I knew who she was," Smith said.

"And I turned to dad, and I'm like, 'Dad, Lisa Keightley sent me a message', and my dad looked at me with this look basically saying, 'Who the hell is Lisa Keightley?'.

"And she called the next day."

Originally, the offer was to join the Scorchers' squad for WBBL02, but a day later Keightley called back to extend the offer to include a WNCL contract with Western Fury as well.

Adapting to a new climate and playing group is something Smith could turn into an art form.  Including junior national championships appearances, she was up to her third state team, not to mention the fact she was acquainting herself with England's best county players at her 'off-season' club Essex.

The now 22-year-old stayed in Perth last summer, but has since packed up her life again to officially relocate to Western Australia, where she can enjoy the warmer days in the country’s west by the beach.

Already knowing a few of the women in the Fury and Scorchers' squads eased the move, but it is safe to say the new lifestyle suits Smith, spending days on the beach and “selling shoes on the side” in her one-day-a-week part-time job around her cricketing commitments.

Playing at the elite level may have been a late-blooming ambition for the western suburbs product, but she first picked up a cricket bat for official competition before her age reached double digits, playing for Sunshine in boys' and men's leagues before signing on with Australia’s oldest female cricket club, Essendon Maribyrnong Park Ladies.

She maintained that link until last summer, flying back to Melbourne after the WBBL season to play a further six matches with the Victorian Premier Firsts side. Among the games tally was the side's premiership win over Box Hill with a team that included fellow WBBL players Kristen Beams, who captains the Melbourne Stars, and Molly Strano, who plays for Melbourne Renegades.

Although wicketkeeping is now Smith's forte, that wasn't always the case. When she represented Victoria at under-18 level in her final year of junior cricket it was for her efforts with the willow that she earned her spot, not the gloves.

"I didn't even wicketkeep in that team, I was an opening batter," she said. "Which is quite funny, because now I keep and I don't bat.

"I remember beating New South Wales in the round robin game, and then it got to the final, we played New South Wales again and I think were 5-30 and got absolutely pumped. But I didn't do too bad, I think I made nearly 50 in the final but not a lot else."

So what then brought about the switch to keeping?

Smith says it may have stemmed from a reluctance to run around in the field as a junior. She first donned the keepers' gloves as a 10-year-old and has since staked her claim behind the wickets in most matches.

At domestic level, she has been fortunate to have worked with “two of the best female wicketkeepers to ever play the game” in Price, whom she still keeps in contact with despite not playing for the Roar or Hurricanes anymore, and WACA CEO Christina Matthews – both of whom represented Australia.

In the WA squad, Smith shares keeping duties with rising star Megan Banting, who also bats, with the pair splitting Scorchers' matches 10-6 last season. It was Smith who got the nod in the latter stages of last year and she had her first taste of the WBBL final, albeit in the losing side as Sydney Sixers held on in a close one to win the title.

She has picked up where she left off, keeping in all six Scorchers' games to date.

Coach Keightley says the stats fanatic has been a “refreshing” figure around the playing group since joining last summer.

"Emily is really fun to be around – she takes her cricket seriously, but at the same time, she enjoys playing," Keightley said. "You're always having a laugh or having a bit of banter with her, which is really refreshing.

"She's sent me through quite a few statistical things – which has been quite funny – in a joking way, and then serious. She's the first to send me through a few statistical facts, which is part of our bit of banter that we have.

"She's come from Victoria … and then obviously was down with the Hurricanes and Tassie, and now she's with us. I suppose it gives her a really good perspective of environments and it shows that she's a pretty strong character, to be able to fit in wherever she goes.

"She's really hard-working as well."

Smith's commitment to cricket cannot be doubted. When the Australian summer drew to a close in 2015 and 2016, she flew halfway around the world to continue playing, joining Women's County Championship division two side Essex.

"It wasn't too bad, I played a lot of cricket over there – didn't trouble the scorers too often, but it was good fun, just a different climate completely," she said.

"It was good to just explore and not have the pressure of the programs back here, just to go over and play cricket was awesome.

"We don't have the luxury of flying around everywhere in England. It was a six-hour bus trip up to Lancashire and you'd play your game and it was six hours back on the same day. They do it tough over there."

 

Image Id: 3911C46A86B54CBF9B4F255000D0A1F7 Image Caption: Smith takes a 'selfie' with fans at a Scorchers match // Getty

Back home – or at her adopted home, at least – Smith is eyeing a big summer with the Scorchers and Fury.

While keeping her goals simple – "To play would be nice!" – she knows the team in burnt orange has a point to prove after two devastatingly close losses in the opening WBBL seasons.

The Scorchers were knocked out of the 2015-16 finals after an eight-run loss in the semi-final, and last year, in Smith's first season at the club, fell just seven runs short of Sydney Sixers in the final.

This year, England's Natalie Sciver and Sydney Thunder's Mikayla Hinkley have joined the side, as did the world’s best batter, Meg Lanning, although she is sitting out WBBL|03 as she recovers from shoulder surgery following the ICC Women's World Cup.

"We're obviously pretty confident, especially with who we've recruited – and recruited for the future with Meg," Smith said. 

"So we're definitely looking to win the final, but obviously, as cliché as it sounds, it's to take each game as it comes. Win those, win the finals."

The confidence isn't misplaced. The Scorchers have made a strong start to the summer, winning four of six matches to date, including two convincing wins over reigning champions Sixers.