Murphy’s law dictates that Kim Garth was not long from walking out to bat when her mother picks up the phone. “God she probably won’t last long.” Anne-Marie’s maternal verdict betrays a truth we all understand. Even though her daughter wears the canary yellow of Australia, the nerves of the Irish parent will never dissipate.
Kim Garth’s story has been well told at this stage. A Dublin native who debuted for Ireland aged just 14, talent combined with a lack of opportunity saw her take on the challenge of making it in the world’s best women’s cricketing nation.
Irish eligibility was sacrificed in order to accept a contract Down Under. Garth was before her time in Ireland, women’s professionalism only coming into existence just as she approached the end of her residency to qualify for Australia.
Just under three years since debuting for her second country, she has donned the Australian baggy green cap in four Test matches. A winner’s medal from the 2023 T20 World Cup has been secured. Now Garth takes guard in the 50-over World Cup against Pakistan, completing a trifecta which is impossible for most Irish players.
RM Block
Her mother’s nerves stem from the fact that Garth is being asked to do a rescue job with the bat, her weaker suit, against Pakistan. Later she will open the bowling, but first Garth has to walk out as the seventh wicket falls with just 76 runs on the board.
[ Kim Garth, the former Irish cricket prodigy now an Australian starOpens in new window ]
Anne-Marie knows the situation not just as a parent who has completed too many laps of the boundary rope at Pembroke Cricket Club. She played 12 times for Ireland, also as a bowler. Like mother like daughter.
With Kim recently making her first 50-over World Cup appearance, it is widely believed that the Garths are the first mother-daughter pairing to play at cricket’s most prestigious white-ball tournament. One for Ireland, one for Australia. Both Irish.
Anne-Marie’s trip was 37 years ago, 1988 to be exact. She was told of her Irish selection while sat in a grimy club changing room in Sandymount. Kim heard of her Aussie debut sat in a plush hotel, a behind-the-scenes camera crew capturing the moment.
Anne-Marie was offered £500 by her employer to help fund her World Cup expedition. T-shirts and bumper stickers were sold to raise further funds. “Women cricketers have fine legs” – a play on the fielding position – was one of the more printable slogan choices. Nearly 40 years on, Kim was flown to her World Cup India in business class on the tournament organiser’s dime.
For all the difference in how women’s sport is treated then versus now, we’re still talking about World Cups. A prestige of achievement is shared within the family. “I didn’t do particularly well and we didn’t do well as a nation, but that trip added to the passion for the game that I had,” says Anne-Marie. “In some way it may have leant itself to Kim ending up where she is.
“I’m very proud of Kim. I don’t normally do these interviews because I’m not very good at them but I almost feel obliged to do them for her. It’s a lovely thing that we have that connection.”
The link can at times be an unspoken one. Anne-Marie still has her World Cup blazer, the old Irish Cricket Union’s shamrock symbol emblazoned on the breast pocket, but it doesn’t sound like Kim asked mum for a memorabilia tour as a cricket-enthused youngster.
“Truth be told I don’t think it was a huge thing in her head back then,” says Anne-Marie. “I remember years ago when she was on Irish tours, [former Ireland leg-spinner] Ciara Metcalfe said ‘Kim talks about you all the time’. When you’re with her, you wouldn’t get that impression.
“We’re that kind of family, no matter what. There’s always a miserly amount of praise! If the kids got 75 runs, it would be, ‘You’d done all the hard yards, why didn’t you get the century?’ But we are very proud of Kim and what she’s achieved.”
Kim has previously spoken in these pages of the difficult decision to leave family in Dublin when moving to Australia. “I always had that element of guilt,” she said. “Not that they would hold that against me but it’s tough for everyone. For all this to come together and be rewarded with Australian selection has made it worthwhile.”
Memories of their respective World Cup campaigns will obviously differ. Aside from beating the Dutch, Anne-Marie’s Irish outfit was overwhelmed by the standard of opposition. The experience gaps exposed by how often she and fellow tailender Susan Bray were forced into batting duty. “We’d meet in the middle,” she recalls, “and I’d ask ‘Is my lipstick okay?’ That was how out of our depth we were. We were giddy, not knowing how to play against these big nations.”
Kim, by contrast, is part of an unbeaten Australian outfit, top of the World Cup table three games in.
Still, Anne-Marie knows both the game and her own daughter. Her nervous prediction came to fruition, Kim dismissed for 11 before our phone call ends. “God, Kimmy will have nothing to bowl at.” Parental nerves quickly give way to reassurance about the ability of Garth’s replacement at the crease: “Kingy can bat.” Alana King added an 51 unbeaten to go with Beth Mooney’s century.
Spurred by that partnership – not to mention Garth’s three wickets with the ball – Australia eventually prevailed by 107 runs.
Perhaps mams do know best. Especially if they have their own World Cup experience to lean on.
