CRICKETING prodigy Jess Cameron was coming home from training last month when she answered a phone call.
Her jaw dropped when she heard the news on the other end of the line.
The 23-year-old Werribee native was told she was about to become the fifth ever cricketer to win the Belinda Clark Award as Australia’s women’s international player of the year.
The phone call was from Belinda Clark herself.
“I couldn’t really believe it to be honest,” Cameron told Star.
“There have been a lot of good performances by others over the last 12 months and I thought I wasn’t really a chance so to get that phone call was obviously amazing.
“I’m really honoured and proud of what I’ve achieved.”
But as you would expect from one of Australia’s great young sporting talents; the team ethos so critical to the game of cricket will always trump individual glory. Just like it did in India three weeks ago when the Southern Stars took out the ODI World Cup in India.
Australia beat the West Indies by 114 runs in the Mumbai final with Cameron snaring player of the match honours after smashing 75 at almost a run a ball.
Already a two-time T20 world champion, Cameron, who returned home last week, said it was pretty hard to compare this win with others she’s already had on the international stage.
“I think this one was a little bit different because in 2009 we weren’t able to get the result we wanted,” Cameron said.
“In the last four years it’s pleasing to know that all of the hard work that Cricket Australia has put in and all the hard work the girls have put in has really paid off for us.”
In a show of true class, the right-handed hard hitter regained her touch in the final after an indifferent start to the tournament ( two ducks and an an impressive 82 against New Zealand).
“I guess that was really disappointing for me so at some point I had to stick my hand up and knuckle down a bit,” Cameron said of her start.
“I think later in the tournament it all sort of came back for me and luckily in the final it came off.”
And with an Ashes tour coming up in August, Cameron is hoping to add to her already impressive list of gongs, though she admitted having achieved so much already, there wasn’t much left to tick off.
Continued improvement and consistency is the main goal for now, but the captaincy could be in her future.
Cameron was sheepishly modest when asked about the possibility of leading her country.
“I haven’t really thought about it to be honest and if that were to come up it would definitely be unexpected, but sometimes you’ve just got to roll with those punches.”
