Sometimes, it is hard to be in women’s cricket. Though your main aim is to play for your country, you might obviously lose your spot if you don’t play well. Consistency really is the key, but there are a few players who can change the match results by their power-hitting ability.
For Rachel Priest, things normally look like they are falling in places, but it would fall apart. She plays well in the domestic leagues, would get back to the team where she messes up, and there is this cycle.
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It is well known that women cricketers don’t earn as much as their counterparts, sometimes it is way too less to survive.
Many cricketers choose to sign up as overseas players because of the same as leagues like WBBL or KSL pays you better than your domestic county.
Priest is possibly the most wanted overseas player in every single league. You can include the fact that she will be available throughout the tournament as an added advantage to her batting and the keeping skills.
Of course, she is one of the best keepers around and has records that tell you how she can change the course of the game in a whisker.
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Everything began for her when she was young where she used to play with boys. Then Priest got into Central Districts but ended up playing for Wellington when she moved there for a job. Right after that, She has been a regular for the Blaze. She was working in the fruit Orchids there.
The retirement of Rebecca Rolls helped her to get into the national team in 2007. Since then, she is in and out of the team.
The year 2015 is possibly her best with two ODI hundreds, and she had an average of over 50 in ODIs. However, things fell apart once again. The usual Priest stuff. She messed up. This is how Priest’s life has always been.
Things got out of hands when she lost her central contract for the first time in 2017. She was asked to work on her fitness and consistency.
However, she earned her way back, thanks to KSL. She ended up as the fourth-highest scorer and the White Ferns thought that they could use her power-hitting ability. Unfortunately, she messed it up once again in the 2020 World Cup where she managed only 60 runs in four innings.
Still, Priest has so much to look forward to. Of course, she didn’t want to. It’s not like she doesn’t love a calm life. A central contract would have been nice but it’s not practical, blame her. Now, she will be going back to play the county and travel the world for money.
Does she save anything? No. Does she have anything left for the future? No. She would be looking for another job after retirement but right now, she has to play in different league majorly to survive.
She doesn’t have another job now, no agent, in fact, no own house. She buys her own supplies and negotiates her contracts.
Her normal days in a year starts with Wellington Blaze in New Zealand then she goes to England to play in their domestic season, she travels to Australia for WBBL then comes back to New Zealand for another domestic season. However, she is forced to choose the other domestic leagues over New Zealand domestic season, blame the pay.
To get back into the team, the major priority is to play for New Zealand county. Blame the pay here, once again. The men and the women team have at least 85% pay gap. Even the commentators in the men’s super smash earn more than the Women cricketers.
She did consider hanging her boots a lot of times, her mental health was taken to toll a lot of times but she still holds on, tries to get back to the place where everything will be normal.
There is this uncertainty. She cannot keep living in her parents’ house after retirement, right?
Oh, yes, Priest has made peace with this way of life where travelling takes most of the time of her year. She do wishes that there is a simple way around. Maybe, in the future. Maybe not but Priest loves to live in the present, enjoy the game while she is around.
34 now, the chances of her making a comeback is less considering that the team has moved on to focus on the youngsters. But Priest will keep playing and hoping that things would turn around.
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Now, imagine being a fan of her. It is really hard, I tell you. You cannot cash all the money on her but the happiness you get when you watch her go berserk is ineffable. She is too good on days where everyone fails and she can gift her wickets easily when you least expect her to do. Emotionally investing in her is one of the toughest things for a fan. Still, you wake up, wait for the day and you end up loving those 20-odds she normally gets. Sometimes, you’d think that watching her is all enough for you. Just like she did, as a fan, you will end up making peace with her batting. However, thanks to her keeping, you are in for a treat every single day, every single match.
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Talking more about her keeping, she keeps improving, learns new trick whenever she gets time and the latest is that she doesn’t bend too much or stand close, unlike Sarah Taylor. This works best for her now. She might be changing it in future but right now, she does what she does, living in the present.
