Clare’s batting a new future for women in cricket

BERRYS Creek cricket bat maker Clare Johnston has been attracting widespread media attention recently as possibly the only female exponent of the craft.
She will be delighted if that publicity encourages other cricket bat manufacturers to produce bats tailored to the needs of women and girls.
Her business ‘de Lacy Cricket’ makes bespoke bats using Victorian-grown English willow and tailored to the individual regardless of gender.

Female players tend to be far more limited than males in the selection of suitable off-the-shelf bats available in shops.
“I’m finding lots of women are coming to me saying they can’t get a commercial bat that fits them, so I’m working with them to try and understand what that is,” Clare said.

She said sometimes being of slighter build, girls and women tend to want lighter bats.
“There are women who want heavier bats, but they might not be able to get the right length for their body shape,” Clare said.

The weight distribution of the bat desired by women may also vary, affecting the feeling of how it picks up, with factors such as wrist strength coming into play.
Clare has an open mind when it comes to producing suitable bats for female players.
“I’d like to do more research on it and work with someone like a physio or somebody who does sports movement as a profession to discover more about what it is that’s different,” Clare said.

She loves the feeling of playing with a bat she crafted herself but is even more excited to see her bats in the hands of other players.
“For me it’s a greater joy seeing other people enjoying using it,” Clare said, saying it is terrific when someone picks up the bat and says it feels great.

Her high quality bats maintain the tradition of needing to be oiled.
The business sponsors the Mirboo North women’s team, which Clare represents as a wicketkeeper.

Despite the bespoke nature of de Lacy bats, Clare usually has just a two week turnaround from receiving an order to having a bat ready.
However, the recent media attention has increased that timeframe a little by boosting demand.

She explained what attracted her to cricket bat making, prompting her to learn the craft from former Australian cricketer Ian Callen.
“The reason I was drawn to it was to provide bats to the local community,” Clare said.

Speaking to a member of the BBC team she was informed she may be the world’s only female cricket bat maker.
Clare outlined the importance of providing suitable equipment for female players, whether they are made by her or others.
“We’ve got fantastic women players out there and Australia has an amazing female cricket team, and you can’t go into a sports store and feel like we’ve got equity of equipment,” Clare said.

She noted there is a safety element to being confident in your bat as well as a performance factor, saying it’s not enjoyable for girls to play with a bat that isn’t suited to them.
Clare acknowledged there are male bat makers tailoring bats to individual players, including females.
“There has been a shift which is good, but I think we have got a way to go yet,” she said.

The level of interest in her story from the cricket community has been a pleasant surprise for Clare.