Lisa Sthalekar appointed President of the Federation of International Cricketers' Association

The former Australian cricketer turned commentator Lisa Sthalekar has been named as the President of the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (FICA). She has now become the first woman to be appointed to this post. 

The decision was taken at the FICA Executive Committee meeting held in Nyon, Switzerland. 

Barry Richards, Jimmy Adams, and most recently, Vikram Solanki have been the presidents of the committee since its formation in 1998. 

The Federation acts as a medium for the professional players to voice their opinions on matters pertaining to cricket. It also encourages different associations to raise money and develop the sports infrastructure as well. 

Sthalekar has featured in 187 international games for Australia across all the three formats from 2001 to 2013 and amassed a total of 3913 runs, with three centuries and 18 fifties. She has been useful with the ball as well, picking up 229 wickets. 

Although she retired nine years back, Sthalekar still remains one of the top 10 highest wicket-takers in the 50-overs format with 146 scalps. 

She was the best Australian women's player in 2007 and 2008 and was the driving force behind the team securing a title in the 2010 edition of the T20 World Cup. 

In 2021, Sthalekar was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame and became only the fourth woman to achieve this unique feat. 

After the appointment, the former Australian revealed her pride and excitement about the new role. 

"I'm extremely honoured and excited to be FICA's new president," she said. "We are entering a new phase of the game which covers more cricket than ever before for our male and female players. More countries are playing the game, which demonstrates that cricket is certainly becoming a global game," said Sthalekar.  

"I look forward to working on behalf of our member players' associations and players, and in particular to working with the ICC to ensure that all players have their rights protected and can work in partnership with administrators to make our game even better."

The meeting at Nyon was the first in-person discussion held by the executive committee since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Many global issues regarding the players were discussed in the meeting, with the World Players Association (WPA) President Brendan Schwab and ICC CEO Geoff Allardice giving their presentations.