DIANA EDULJI - WOMEN CRICKETER

Diana Edulji has grown up with women's cricket in India, The country entered the international arena with a Test match against the visiting Australian team in 1975. And Diana, a member of the team, had reasons to remember her debut. Six wickets for 48 followed •an unbeaten innings or 48. That was a start of a career that lasted 22 years, a period of consolidation in the history of women's cricket in the country. Born in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 26 January 1956, Diana had a natural flair for sports and grew up playing with boys of the Railway Colony. She played basketball and table tennis at national junior level and then shifted to cricket. Her initiation was in good hands. For a while she was in the camp where Lala Amarnath was coaching. And then there was the Mafatlal Nirlon Camp with all the top cricketers, men and women separately, at the nets. Her career actually took roots in 1971 when Mrs. Aloo Bamjee formed the women's first cricket club - "ALBEES" at the Cricket Club of India. Diana watched women's cricket grow, being very much a part of the scene when the Women's Cricket Association of India was officially launched in 1973 and the first National Championship was conducted in Pune in 1974. Diana was a member o£ the winning Bombay team. Since then she has played in 21 national championships, 14 of them for the winning combinations, three for Bombay and 11 for the Railways. An automatic choice for the Indian team, Diana Eduiji wore the national colours for 22 years without a break, playing against England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, Holland, Denmark and Ireland. She was a member of the team that won for India the first-ever Test series against West Indies in 1976, She captained the Indian side on a number of tours and also led the Indian team in two of the three World Cups she played. Though an all-rounder, she has had some outstanding performances as a left-arm spinner, being declared the best bowler in a number of series. Often called the "Bishen Bedi" of women's cricket. Diana holds the world record for the maximum number of wickets in Test Cricket, Her tally of 83 wickets in 23 matches is a record which is yet to be surpassed.Women's cricket in India owes much to Diana Edulji and the Women Cricket Association of India has set a rare precedent by playing a benefit match for her, the first woman cricketer to be so honoured, Diana has won many awards during her long career, the most cherished ones being the Shiv Chhatrapati Award by the Government of Maharashtra in 1979, the Arjuna Award in 1983 and Maharashtra's Gaurav Puraskar in 1991.Source : "India's Highest Sports Awards and Those Who Won Them" by S.S.Gandhi, The Defence Review