‘Do you want to be the Mithali Raj of Australia and strike at 50?’ – Aussie batter Bolton reveals former coach’s brutal comparison

Former Australia women’s team batter Nicole Bolton revealed how a former head coach’s brutal assessment of her game in comparison to India batting legend Mithali Raj left her feeling her “career would be short-lived.”

The 35-year-old Bolton who represented Australia in 55 international matches revealed a chat she had with former Australia bowler Cathryn Fitzpatrick during her early days in List A cricket with Victoria. Bolton made an impressive List A debut with Western Australia in 2014 before switching to Victoria in 2015.

The left-hander scored a watchful hundred on her debut for Victoria and backed it up with scores of 35 in 68 balls and 43 off 69 deliveries. However, Bolton’s then-head coach Fitzpatrick, a veteran of 240 international wickets and considered one of the fastest female bowlers, compared her middling scoring rates to Mithali.

‘Why can’t you be like Lanning or Villani?’

“For so long, I was just trying to impress her [Fitzpatrick]. I was just trying to get her to see me. And, I just remember, she called me into her office to have a chat. And she was like, ‘Do you honestly want to be the Mithali Raj of the Australia Cricket Team?’ And I was like, ‘Mithali Raj?’ And she was like, ‘Yeah, do you honestly want to strike at 50? It’s okay if you get 100 but the team still loses and you get 100 off 150 balls?’ And I was, ‘Woah! This is how Cathryn Fitzpatrick sees me. That’s not good at all. If this is how she sees me, my career is going to be pretty short-lived,'” Bolton said in a Stories After Stumps podcast.

“She sort of said to me, ‘Why can’t you be like Meg Lanning or Elyse Villani? That’s how we want you to play.’”

Fitzpatrick’s impact on Bolton was almost instantaneous as she smashed 170 off 156 balls in her next outing, including 24 boundaries.

Bolton’s revelation has stirred a debate among Indian fans. Mithali is recognised among the greatest women cricketers, amassing over 10,000 international runs across formats, the only female to achieve the landmark. Mithali also led India in a record 155 ODIs and compiled 7,805 runs in 232 games with seven centuries and 64 fifties.

Bolton, who featured in all formats for Australia between 2014 and 2019, completed her career with nearly 2000 runs, including four centuries.

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