It is not always that you get debut for your national team and have your captain read the message from your parents while presenting that most wanted national cap for you. But Australia Women’s pacer Stella Campbell got all that which is considered desirable for anyone’s debut.
Presenting the cap to Campbell, Aussie Women skipper Meg Lanning tried to lighten the mood for an emotional 19-year-old saying, “I know your folks are not here, and there are just a few of us in the circle who know James, your dad. James is a bit of a penchant for dressing up in Stella’s playing kit because they are roughly the same size.”
“I know they are (Stella’s parents) on FaceTime now,” Lanning said adding that she was going to read a message from her to Stella.
“Every girl who plays cricket dreams of playing for Australia one day and you have worked incredibly hard to make your dream come true. We wish we could be there with you today, but we know you’ll rip in and try your best as usual,” Lanning read Campbell’s parents’ message. And just as she read, a lump seemed to be forming in the tall teenager’s throat.
Lanning further said that she and the entire team expects Stella to do so as her parents wished for her in her first game and completed the ceremony with, “That smile is infectious mate and you are going to do great things.”
After the emotional ceremony, Campbell did quite well in her first game and picked up the crucial wicket of Yastika Bhatia to keep Aussies in the game which India eventually won by two wickets to end the ODI series at 1-2.