Cricket legend Belinda Clark becomes the first Australian woman to have her portrait displayed in the Long Room at Lord’s
When Belinda Clark first entered the Long Room at Lord’s as an actress, she had a keen sense that this was not a privilege afforded to many women.
While everyone on the field made Clark and his 1998 Australian cricket team feel welcome, women were not accepted as members of the Marylebone Cricket Club until a few months later.
“This was clearly a men’s bastion,” Clark recalled, “and the people in this room watching you go out to bat were predominantly men.”
If Clark had looked up at the walls, he would have seen more male faces looking down at him.
On Friday, she became the first Australian woman to grace the walls of the prestigious Long Room when a portrait of her was displayed next to paintings by Sir Donald Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar.
Only a handful of female portraits made it into the Long Room, including former England captains Rachael Heyhoe Flint and Charlotte Edwards.
Unlike Edwards, who is depicted in his full England jersey on Lord’s balcony, Clark is not painted in a cricket setting at all.
“The obvious thing is to paint someone in uniform and a green hat or in action, and I stay away from that kind of thing. It’s about them as a person in every walk of life,” explained Melbourne artist Andrew Greensmith.
“He’s not forcing it [she was] “He is the consummate cricketer and I think this is a true reflection of him.”
Greensmith tried to convey Clark’s essential qualities.
“Quiet but strong, proud and hopeful for the future,” he said.
“He’s pretty laid-back and I dressed him in a perfectly ironed shirt. I just wanted to show pride and leadership… We could tell he’d be a great leader for a team.”
Clark, 55, is a two-time World Cup-winning captain and has paved the way for the likes of Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy with her superb batting.
Her world record of 229, her highest score not in a women’s one-day international, stood for two decades, and for most of that time no man could surpass her.
He was fascinated by the painting and how the bursts of light within it reflected his fundamental optimism.
“At first I thought, Andrew, did you have to paint over all the lines on my face? Then I laughed at myself and thought, that’s me, that looks like me.”
“It shows this dark and light shade, and that’s really what life is about. There are great moments and there are not-so-great moments, and you have to find a way to get through that. I look at him and I see these bursts of light. Wow, how did he do that with a paintbrush? I have no idea, but he’s so smart.”
Clark, who now works with youth on leadership, including with Carlton’s AFLW team, agrees with Greensmith’s portrayal of him, although he wasn’t quite as quiet in his youth.
“[Hopeful] That’s really the only way to be involved in a sport because if you’re not you look back and you’re not going anywhere… But I think my contribution to cricket has always been about being brave and trying things, playing a certain way and not accepting the status quo.
Clark helped bring women’s cricket into the professional era, first as CEO of Women’s Cricket Australia (where she was still playing) and later in executive roles overseeing Cricket Australia’s national academy and game development.
“Some of them probably have deep pockets and that’s why they’re making progress. If you consider the amount they have as an organisation, there’s no excuse for India not paying players a significant amount of money,” Clark said.
“So certainly Australia have lit that fire and there are some challenges to making sure they stay at the forefront. It’s not just rewarding the players financially, it’s also making sure the pathways are there and the whole game is healthy.”
“Australians expect that if you’re good, anyone from anywhere will find your way. That’s not always the case around the world, and I think that approach really needs to be at the forefront when making investment decisions about cricket in particular but all sports.”
Marylebone Cricket Club has been commissioning portraits since 1880; the first belongs to WG Grace, the father of English cricket.
But when Charlotte Goodhew, director of collections and programs at the Lord’s, began curating the collection in 2008, she promised to correct a striking imbalance.
“It was clear from my analysis that the collection was very white, British male-dominated, and I wanted to tell a more balanced and authentic global cricket story,” he said.
Australians overlooking the Long Room include Bradman, Keith Miller, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, although the Warne painting currently resides above the away dressing room staircase. Goodhew pushed for more women on the walls.
Clark was the first non-British woman to walk the Long Room gallery when she went to bat in 1998.
He scored 89 that day and Australia completed the series against England with a clean sheet. The bellboy used masking tape to record Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s five-wicket haul and Lisa Keightley’s century on the honors boards.
In the Lord’s Rose Garden, Clark and England captain Karen Smithies lit the baton to create the women’s Ashes trophy. “We felt very welcome,” Clark said.
Next time he visits, Bradman will be part of the décor in the company of Tendulkar as well as the late Heyhoe Flint, who led the campaign to open the club’s doors to women. (Heyhoe Flint submitted her initial application using only her initial so that MCC would assume she was a man. It didn’t work.)
“This is great [Lord’s] “We’re moving in that direction to be much more open,” Clark said. [the MCC] “They contribute to the sport well beyond that area and they contribute to the people who play in it, so I think it’s important to recognize that they’re trying to make sure the game is inclusive.”
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Chloe Saltau is Sports Editor of The Age and a former chief cricket writer.Connect with: X or email.
