As well as playing cricket for Australia, Megan Schutt, 24, is a bit of a cack. When asked about something most people wouldn’t know about her, she says “not much”. “I’m a very honest person without a filter, which can sometimes land me in trouble”. We got to know her a bit before chatting to her about the upcoming Women’s Ashes – and why you should get behind our girls (hey, tix are only $10 each and free for kids). The Ashes runs for a month from 22nd October 2017, with matches in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Coffs Harbour.
QUICKFIRE Qs…
Interests outside of cricket? Beach, cooking, skateboarding, watching House Hunters and pretending to know everything about renovations. I love a good movie and cup of tea – I’m a wild child.
Do you study or have a job outside of cricket? Negative to both. My attention span is zero. It’s a while since I had my last job. My last official job was door-knocking – that was an experience. Taught me how to take rejection, which came in handy being benchy for a while.
Do you have siblings? Yes, older sister and younger brother. I am the perfect middle child as well as the favourite.
Fave moment of 2017 so far? Personally, I proposed to my girlfriend, so that was pretty beautiful. I wouldn’t have asked the question if I thought there was a doubt about it, but yeah, that was great.
Fave cricket moment? Our pre-World Cup camp. It was atrocious in the sense that they really smashed us with fitness and stuff, but it brought the team together better than it’s ever been, and for me the team at the moment is absolutely beautiful. It’s a really nice feeling.
Fave destination? I’d love to go to Canada, I haven’t been, but that’s my dream holiday. I think because I haven’t seen snow, that makes me really want to visit. I’m from Adelaide where it doesn’t snow so yeah I’d love to there and go snowboarding and try all that.
How do you protect your skin out in the sun for so long? I’m a chronic moisturiser, I always have been. So as soon as I wake up I moisturise, and before I go anywhere I moisturise, and before I go to bed I moisturise. I’m OCD about that.
Do you have tips for getting grass stains out of clothes? I don’t because my pants are terrible. I wish I did!
What are you scared of? Clowns, like petrified.
How are you feeling about the upcoming Ashes?
Really excited, obviously as you saw in the World Cup, it’s always a cracking game against England. You know, we’re pretty fierce rivals – I think there’s no better game you want to do than beat the Poms. I think the multi-format is the best thing that’s ever happened to the Ashes, I think it’s a really great way to play it so I’m really excited. [The Women’s Ashes will be played as a mix of Test matches (multi-day games), ODIs (one-day games) and T20 (short) games.]
You’ve played in an Ashes before, and you guys won in 2015, right?
Yeah, two of them. In 2015 we won on English soil, that was even better.
What do you think Australia’s chances of winning this year are?
Oh, I always like to say we’re in with a hot shot. You know, as I said, you never really know what you’re going to get when you play a game against them [England]. We’ve played games where we’ve defended 180 at an ODI and same with 100 at a T20. So they’re always really good games, but we’ll have the advantage of playing on home soil.
How are you feeling about the state of women’s cricket in Australia at the moment?
I think it’s awesome, we’re getting a lot more media coverage these days, and a lot more support from the fans. I think for me I’m a comment reader on social media and I know I shouldn’t be, but the increasing number of positive comments and the less negativity has just been really amazing, something I’ve never seen – in the last six months it’s all sort of changing.
What was the state of women’s cricket like over in England when you were over there for the World Cup?
I guess all you’ve got to do is to look at the women’s World Cup final and see the crowd – I wasn’t watching most of that game because it was hurting my heart too much [because Australia got knocked out before the final], but I saw it towards the end and to see the crowd getting into it like they were, I’ve never really seen that before. It gave me goosebumps to see their country getting right behind them and having a sold-out Lord’s for a World Cup final. It says everything about where the game is at the moment.
How did you get into cricket?
I just started really in the backyard with my family, and then with the boys down the road and at school. To be honest I don’t think I was any good when I first started, but I did have a little bit of natural talent when it came to bowling.
What do you love most about cricket?
I think mainly the team atmosphere. Like, it’s the most individual team sport you can ever play, it matters how everyone goes, but at the same time everyone’s focused on you when you’re bowling or you when you’re batting. And the game can turn in an over [6 bowls], one over can change a match. It’s a game where anything can happen and there’s nothing better than when your team gets around you and you get around them. Nothing beats that feeling.
What would you say to encourage women to watch the Ashes?
I think it’s just being supportive of your country, isn’t it? Like, you know, at the end of the day, we’re running out there playing for Australia. That’s what Big Bash cricket has really done – seeing the amount of families that are at games now, whether that be because the women are there to support us, or they’re there because their kids want to be there, they’re there either way. So I think there’s been a great flourish of female supporters, which is awesome.
Find out more about the Women’s Ashes here.
Discover what the Women’s Health initiative WinS is and how you can get involved here.
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