Tribute to Lyn Fullston – ‘Lefty’

Everyone at the club – and in the wider community, was very
sorry to lose Lyn Fullston, known to all as Lefty, in the off season.
Lefty set records for Australia, and played for South Australia and
Port Adelaide. She was a huge inspiration.

Jatz (Sarah Moriarty) has written the following tribute to her:

Lefty was a friend. Whether you needed a place to stay, to borrow one of her endless collections of tools. Maybe it was some horse manure for your garden, or you were baking a big cake and needed some eggs, Lefty was there to help out.

Lefty was a role model and I should hope that more girls would aspire to play cricket like Lefty
did. Come in to bowl off half a dozen steps… Dawdle up the pitch with your bat tucked under
your arm when you’re going for a run… But most importantly: field in close because if the
ball gets past you there’s always someone behind you who will chase it to the boundary.

Lefty was a task master. In some people it was because she saw their potential at an early age.
She would push them and push them possibly to the point where they thought that she was the
biggest bitch on earth. Well, one of her victims – Emma – made her debut as the new opening
bowler for Australia two seasons ago. Then there were those of us that chased the ball all over
the park at fielding training till we could hardly breathe. Lefty would just stand there and laugh
and say: “Aren’t you glad you got in that last cigarette before training?”

Lefty was a teacher. She taught us that, with the right mental approach, you can beat your
opponent no matter what the situation. Nobody remembers who came second as their name
isn’t on the trophy.

Lefty was a sportswoman. She excelled at anything she put her hand up for. Cricket, netball,
tennis to name a few and I she wasn’t too bad at badminton either.

Who could forget Lefty rocking up to a match with her Hungry Jacks Whopper in one hand and a
can of Pepsi Max in the other? Or the days when it was 110 degrees in the shade and everyone
was struggling to consume enough water to keep hydrated and there was Lefty, not a drop of
sweat on her, and what did she have to drink all the breaks, even when out batting?
You guessed it – Pepsi Max.

Then there was the bat she used, it looked older than she was, with big chunks missing and two
miles of tape holding what was left of it together. And a pair of gloves with more holes in than a
block of Swiss cheese. But they were her favourites – and they worked. And what about the game
when the sole of her spikes started to come off? In typical fashion, she just took off her shoe and
finishing bowling in her sock.

But to us Lefty was a cricketer. She started playing for Adelaide College of Advanced Education in
1977. She moved on to captain/coach at Flinders Uni in 1982 and then to Eencee in the same role
in 1988 before as a club they joined forces with Port Adelaide in 1994 where she played and
coached until retiring in 2007.

Under her ever-watchful eye, Port became one of the most successful women’s clubs in South
Australia, even becoming the first in history to win the premiership in all three grades in one
season. That probably stems from captains not wanting to go back and tell her they had lost.

Lefty had a 15-year, 123-match career with South Australia, but her greatest
achievements were left for the international stage.

She began her international career as a member of the 1982 World Cup team where she topped
not only the Australian bowling averages with 23 wickets at 12, but also managed to top the
Australian batting averages with 41.

She made her Test debut in 1984 against India and took 20 wickets for the series. In the final Test
she took seven wickets in a marathon bowling spell of 112.5 overs, which included 57 maidens.

In her 12-Test career, she bowled 601.4 overs with 239 maidens, taking 41 wickets for 1047 runs
at an average of 25.52. In her 41 ODIs she bowled 394.2 overs with 18 maidens, taking 73 wickets
for 968 runs at 13.26. Her record of 73 wickets stood from 1988 to 2005 when Karen Rolton took
her 74th ODI wicket.

When Lefty retired from international cricket in 1988 she was the only Australian woman to have
taken 100 international wickets and she still remains the leading wicket taker in World Cup
history with 39 wickets.

Her long and distinguished career was recognised by SACA in 2007 when they announced the
Women’s B Grade player of the year award would be the Lyn Fullston Medal. And if Lefty had
played every game that season I have no doubt she would be presenting it to herself.

The best way to sum up Lefty is simple. Lefty was, is and always will be a legend...