Nicole Bolton

Nicole Bolton
Bolton during the 2017–18 Women's Ashes Test
Personal information
Full name
Nicole Elizabeth Bolton
Born (1989-01-17) 17 January 1989 (age 35)
Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia
Height1.58 m (5 ft 2 in)
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight-arm off break
RoleBatter
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 169)11 August 2015 v England
Last Test18 July 2019 v England
ODI debut (cap 127)23 January 2014 v England
Last ODI7 July 2019 v England
ODI shirt no.12
T20I debut (cap 38)2 February 2014 v England
Last T20I27 September 2016 v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2004/05–2013/14Western Australia
2012/13–2013/14Otago
2014/15Victoria
2015/16–2020/21Western Australia
2015/16–2020/21Perth Scorchers
2018Lancashire Thunder
2021/22Sydney Sixers
Career statistics
Competition WTest WODI WT20I WBBL
Matches 3 50 2 86
Runs scored 91 1,896 6 1,494
Batting average 22.75 41.21 6.00 22.30
100s/50s 0/0 4/12 0/0 0/5
Top score 36 124 6 71
Balls bowled 30 30 – 1,009
Wickets 0 2 – 41
Bowling average – 18.00 – 27.93
5 wickets in innings – 0 – 0
10 wickets in match – 0 – 0
Best bowling – 2/18 – 3/20
Catches/stumpings 1/– 14/– 3/– 24/–
Source: Cricket Australia, 29 April 2021

Nicole Elizabeth Bolton is an Australian former cricketer who played as a left-handed batter and right-arm off break bowler for Australia and a number of domestic teams in Australia, New Zealand and England.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

Bolton was born in Subiaco, an inner western suburb of Perth, where she was raised and has lived most of her life.[1] Between 1993 and 2003, she went to school at Newman College, Perth, and from 2003 to 2006 she attended Methodist Ladies' College in the Perth suburb of Claremont.[4]

As a young child, Bolton played cricket with her brothers in the back yard of the family home. However, she did not take up the game seriously until she was 15 years old, when she started playing for MLC in an organised competition. She also played at junior level for the Subiaco Marist Cricket Club.[5]

From 2008 to 2011, Bolton studied for a Bachelor of Event, Sport and Recreation Management at Edith Cowan University. In 2016, she completed a Graduate Diploma in Teaching and Learning, Education, at Charles Darwin University.[4]

Cricket career

Bolton made her international debut on 23 January 2014, when she scored 124 runs off 152 balls. She joined Victoria in 2014 but returned to Western Australia in 2015.[6][7][8]

In June 2015, she was named as one of Australia's touring party for the 2015 Women's Ashes in England, as a Test and ODI specialist who was not expected to play in the T20 internationals.[9]

In April 2018, she was one of the fourteen players to be awarded a national contract for the 2018–19 season by Cricket Australia.[10] In October 2018, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies.[11][12]

In November 2018, she was named in the Perth Scorchers' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season.[13][14] In April 2019, Cricket Australia awarded her with a contract ahead of the 2019–20 season.[15][16] In June 2019, Cricket Australia named her in Australia's team for their tour to England to contest the Women's Ashes.[17][18] She returned to the Australian squad, after taking a five-month break from the game dealing with a mental health issue.[19] In October 2021, Bolton announced her retirement from playing state cricket.[20] On 26 November 2022, she retired from all forms of cricket after playing in the Women's Big Bash League final.[21]

One Day International centuries

On 23 January 2014, Bolton scored a century during her international debut, in a Women's Ashes multiple format series One Day International (ODI) match against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[6] She was the first Australian woman to score a century on ODI debut, and the first woman of any nationality to score such a century against a team fielded by a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).[22]

Subsequently, Bolton scored three other ODI centuries, against three other Full Member teams, in three other countries. Her third ODI century was reached during Australia's opening match of the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup; the other three were scored in bilateral series.[23] Of all the women who have scored four or more ODI centuries, Bolton had the shortest career by number of ODIs, at just 50 matches between 2014 and 2019.[24]

Nicole Bolton's One Day International centuries[25]
# Runs Match Opponents City/Country Venue Year
1 124 1  England Australia Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground 2014[26]
2 113 22  Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka R. Premadasa Stadium 2016[27]
3 107* 31  West Indies England Taunton, England County Ground 2017[28]
4 100* 42  India India Vadodara, India Reliance Stadium 2018[29]

Post-retirement

West Australian Football Commission

At the time of her retirement as a player for Western Australia in 2021, Bolton made a conscious decision to avoid becoming a cricket coach immediately. Instead, she accepted an appointment as the Women & Girls Community Football Manager for the West Australian Football Commission.[30]

Coaching

In December 2022, Bolton was invited by Luke Williams, coach of South Australia and Adelaide Strikers, to become the assistant coach of those teams from June 2023, in place of Jude Coleman, who had been appointed as head coach of Tasmania. After considering the invitation, and joining in South Australia's training and planning sessions while the team was in Perth in January 2023, Bolton decided to take on the role.[30]

Personal life

Bolton's skills as a cook have been praised by her fellow international cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur as "pretty impressive".[31] During Kaur's debut season with Lancashire Thunder in the Kia Super League, the two players shared an apartment. Kaur later told ESPNcricinfo:

"After a point, Bolton realised I couldn't cook (laughs), so she taught me a few egg dishes. That was really nice of her to do."[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Nicole Bolton". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Western Australia". WACA. Cricket Network. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Players". Perth Scorchers. Cricket Network. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Nicole Bolton". linkedin.com. LinkedIn. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  5. ^ "Ashes profile - Nicole Bolton". The Coffs Coast Advocate. 26 August 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b Sewell, Eliza (23 January 2014). "Nicole Bolton century helps Australia to 26-run victory over England, keeping Ashes alive". Herald Sun. Melbourne. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  7. ^ Saltau, Chloe (24 January 2014). "Southern Stars debutante Nicole Bolton smashes a century on debut in a one-dayer against England at the MCG". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  8. ^ "Nicole Bolton". CricketArchive. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  9. ^ "Women's Ashes: Australia include three potential Test debutants". BBC. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Molineux, Kimmince among new Australia contracts; Beams, Cheatle miss out". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Australia reveal World Twenty20 squad". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Jess Jonassen, Nicole Bolton in Australia's squad for ICC Women's World T20". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  13. ^ "WBBL04: All you need to know guide". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  14. ^ "The full squads for the WBBL". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  15. ^ "Georgia Wareham handed first full Cricket Australia contract". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Georgia Wareham included in Australia's 2019-20 contracts list". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  17. ^ "Molineux misses Ashes squad, Vlaeminck included". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  18. ^ "Tayla Vlaeminck beats injury to make Australian women's Ashes squad". The Guardian. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  19. ^ "'Glad I've been able to come through it' – Bolton opens up on mental health battle". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Western Australian allrounder Nicole Bolton retires from state cricket". Women's CricZone. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  21. ^ Prakash, Chaitanya (26 November 2022). "Australia's Nicole Bolton set to retire from cricket after WBBL final". CricTracker. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  22. ^ "Batting records | Women's One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  23. ^ "Batting records | Women's One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | NE Bolton | Centuries". ESPNcricinfo.
  24. ^ "Records | Women's One-Day Internationals | Batting records | Most hundreds in a career | ESPNcricinfo.com". Cricinfo. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
  25. ^ "All-round records | Women's One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com – Nicole Bolton". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  26. ^ "Full Scorecard of AUS Women vs ENG Women 2nd ODI 2013/14 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  27. ^ "Full Scorecard of AUS Women vs SL Women 4th ODI 2014-2016/17 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  28. ^ "Full Scorecard of WI Women vs AUS Women 4th Match 2017 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  29. ^ "Full Scorecard of IND Women vs AUS Women 1st ODI 2017/18 - Score Report | ESPNcricinfo.com". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  30. ^ a b Jolly, Laura (20 April 2023). "Opportunity knocks: Why Bolton came back to cricket". Cricket.com.au. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  31. ^ a b Ghosh, Annesha (29 June 2021). "Harmanpreet Kaur: 'Nicole Bolton realised I couldn't cook, so she taught me to make eggs'". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 17 July 2021.

Media related to Nicole Bolton at Wikimedia Commons