1. Alexandra Joy Blackwell was born on 31 August 1983 and is a former professional cricketer and Australian women's cricket captain who played for New South Wales and Australia as a specialist batter.
65 Facts About Alex Blackwell
1. 2.
In 2013, Alex Blackwell became the first female international cricketer to publicly come out as gay.
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Alex Blackwell has been a passionate advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and represented Cricket Australia in the 2015 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
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Alex Blackwell has been a vocal supporter of the inclusion of transgender cricketers at all levels.
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Alex Blackwell was born in Wagga Wagga, but raised in Yenda, a small rural town outside of Griffith, New South Wales.
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In March 2000, Alex Blackwell was called into the New South Wales team for the under 17 interstate competition.
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New South Wales won all of their eight matches to claim the competition and Alex Blackwell ended with 149 runs at 37.25 and seven wickets at 17.00.
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Alex Blackwell made her international debut in 2003 in a quadrangular One Day International tournament.
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Alex Blackwell then made her Test debut in a two-match series against England at the Gabba in Brisbane, hitting a half-century in the latter fixture.
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Alex Blackwell added 136 in 226 minutes for the fifth wicket with Lisa Sthalekar before being dismissed for 58, having hit six boundaries from 236 balls.
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Alex Blackwell retained her position in the national team for the Rose Bowl series, which consisted of three matches each in New Zealand and then Australia.
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Alex Blackwell played in only the third match in New Zealand and did not bat in the seven-wicket win, before being omitted for the first match at home.
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In December 2004 Alex Blackwell participated in a seven-match bilateral ODI series against India.
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Alex Blackwell played in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth matches of the series, ending with 34 runs at 8.50.
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Alex Blackwell scored 10 not out, helping to complete the closing stages of a five-wicket win.
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Alex Blackwell struggled in both innings, making five and nine and scoring at a strike rate of 20 or less in both innings.
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Alex Blackwell ended the series with 48 runs at 12.00.
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Alex Blackwell ended the series with 84 runs at 28.00.
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Alex Blackwell then played in Australia's inaugural Twenty20 international at the County Ground, Taunton, only the second international match in the history of the new format.
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Alex Blackwell was not required to bat as Australia won with seven wickets in hand.
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Alex Blackwell missed the five-ODI Rose Bowl series at home due to injury.
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Alex Blackwell added 79 in a 182-run victory the following day.
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Alex Blackwell ended with 315 runs at 52.50 in her six-match stint.
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Alex Blackwell was retained in the Rose Bowl series held in tropical Darwin in July 2007, the middle of the southern hemisphere winter.
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Alex Blackwell ended the series with 178 runs at 44.50.
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Alex Blackwell made one as Australia batted first and reached 154 in their first innings before conceding a 90-run first innings lead.
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Alex Blackwell made 15 and took two catches as the hosts won the T20 by four wickets.
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Alex Blackwell failed to capitalise on her starts for the county, registering scores of 41,22,0,39 and 30 in her five one-day innings for a total of 132 runs at 26.40.
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Alex Blackwell had little impact in the T20s for Rubies, making four and a duck.
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Alex Blackwell ended the series with 65 run out in the seven-wicket win in the final match.
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Alex Blackwell then made 59 and 37 in the next two matches as Australia levelled the series; the fifth and final match was washed out.
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In two warm-up matches against England and Sri Lanka, Alex Blackwell made 91 not out and 56 retired; Australia won the matches by 25 and 230 runs respectively.
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Alex Blackwell made 22 and took three catches as Australia defeated South Africa by 61 runs.
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Alex Blackwell then scored 46 not out in a 47-run win over the West Indies.
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Alex Blackwell then made seven run out in the win over Pakistan by 107 runs.
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Alex Blackwell made 38 not out in Australia's final Super Six match against England, and although the hosts won by eight wickets, it was not enough for them to place in the top two in the standings and qualify for the final.
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Alex Blackwell was selected for Australia's team for the inaugural Women's World Twenty20 held in England in 2009.
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Alex Blackwell was not required to bat in an eight-wicket win over the West Indies.
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Alex Blackwell ended the tournament with 64 runs at 32.00.
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Alex Blackwell played in all five ODIs, and had a torrid time against the English bowling, scoring 7,3,0,0 and 5.
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Alex Blackwell started with a 38-ball 7 in Chelmsford and had a series of slow-scoring single-digit innings, ending the series with a strike rate of 19.73.
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Alex Blackwell played in the one-off Test match at County Road in Worcestershire.
43.
Alex Blackwell led Australia in the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand in 2010 due to an injury to incumbent captain Jodie Fields.
44.
Alex Blackwell ended her first series as captain with 178 runs at 44.50.
45.
The hosts won the last two matches in New Zealand convincingly by 59 and 17 runs; Alex Blackwell made 9 and 8 as the Australians were bowled out for 73 and 98.
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Alex Blackwell ended the series with 94 runs at 18.80.
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Alex Blackwell made 8 and 44 in last two matches in Invercargill to complete the clean sweep.
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Alex Blackwell had thus led Australia to eight consecutive ODI wins over New Zealand.
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Alex Blackwell led the team at the 2010 World Twenty20 in the West Indies and captained in every match after Fields was again forced out by injury.
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Alex Blackwell batted at No 4 in all but one match.
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Alex Blackwell then came in at No 4 and top-scored with 44 from as many balls as Australia lost by 18 runs.
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Alex Blackwell did not bowl herself as the Australians defeated Pakistan by 82 runs.
53.
Alex Blackwell reached her fifty in 37 balls and was eventually out for 61 from 49 balls with 17 runs still required from 28 balls for victory.
54.
The Australians reached their target with seven wickets and seven balls to spare, and Alex Blackwell was named the player of the match.
55.
In June 2015, Alex Blackwell was named as one of Australia's touring party for the 2015 Women's Ashes in England.
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Alex Blackwell batted for the rest of the innings, getting to a total of 67 and steering Australia to victory in the final over of the match.
57.
In February 2018, Alex Blackwell announced her retirement from international and state career.
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Alex Blackwell featured in 251 matches across all three formats in a career spanning for 15 years.
59.
Alex Blackwell has written that she sees herself as having been a "good international cricketer", but not a "great" one.
60.
Alex Blackwell made 33 runs at 33.00 in her debut season as New South Wales won the WNCL.
61.
In 2013, Alex Blackwell came out as lesbian, the second international player to come out during their playing career after England's Steven Davies.
62.
Alex Blackwell is a passionate advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights and represented Cricket Australia in the 2015 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
63.
Alex Blackwell has been a vocal supporter of the inclusion of transgender cricketers at all levels and was involved in developing Cricket Australia's trans and gender diverse inclusion policy in 2019.
64.
Alex Blackwell is an in-demand public speaker talking about gender equality and LGBTI inclusion in sport, and her experiences as a professional athlete.
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Alex Blackwell was supported to complete her Bachelor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales in 2007 through the university's Elite Athlete Program.