AshBarty

A legend of Australian tennis, Ashleigh Barty is also a talented cricketer who made her mark in the inaugural season of the Women's Big Bash League.

A junior Wimbledon champion who also played in doubles finals at three grand slams, Barty walked away from tennis in late 2014 at the age of 18 and turned to the bat and ball game, starting at the Western Suburbs District Cricket Club in Brisbane.

She proved herself almost immediately, scoring an explosive 63 not out from 60 balls in just her second club match and earning a contract with the Brisbane Heat for the 2015-16 season.

She played in the WBBL's first ever game, scoring 39 from just 27 balls in a Heat side featuring the likes of Jess Jonassen and Beth Mooney, and played nine of their 14 games for the season.

She also played two 50-over games for Queensland in the WNCL that summer and helped Wests win their local competition, top-scoring in the grand final and averaging 46.60 for the season, including a century.

Despite a successful introduction to cricket, Barty returned to tennis a short time later and never looked back, winning the French Open singles in 2019, Wimbledon in 2021 and the Australian Open in 2022.

But she says her time spent in cricket played a major role in helping her rediscover her love of tennis, and she has praised the influence of her Queensland teammates.

"It truly was an amazing period of my life," she said in 2019.

"I met an amazing group of people who couldn't care less whether I could hit a tennis ball or not. They accepted me, and they got to know Ash Barty. They got to know me.

"I still have those relationships to this very day. The way they are accepting of someone new coming into their locker room, into their dressing room and into their sport was amazing.

"They are truly an incredible group of girls that I know I'll have a relationship with for the rest of my life and a friendship with for the rest of my life."

Last updated: Jan 2022