Former New Zealand opening batswoman Trudy Anderson is now responsible for making sure all goes to plan inside the rope at the Cricket World Cup 2022.
It’s almost 30 years since Trudy Anderson was out in the middle, batting for the White Ferns at a World Cup.
Now she finds herself back at the centre of another ODI world championship, and having a major influence on all that happens within the rope.
Anderson, who batted at the top of the order for the White Ferns for much of the 1990s, is now cricket operations manager for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup here in New Zealand.
She describes the role as taking care of practically everything that goes on within the boundaries leading up to and on match day – except, obviously, for the outcome of the game itself.
From the balls used in each match, to arranging the teams’ training schedules, right down to overseeing the mowing pattern on the outfield. “I prefer to call it ‘Getting stuff done’,” Anderson, White Fern #111, says.
She was operations coordinator for the men’s World Cup held here in 1995. “But this one seems a lot more challenging,” she says. Of course, a global pandemic has brought a whole new set of challenges to the job.
But working in this field for over two decades, then helping to run MIQ during Covid, competing in Coast to-Coast multisport races and cycling the length of Aotearoa, Anderson has the experience and the tenacity to roll with the punches.
“I keep saying it might not be the perfect event, but every grenade that’s thrown at us, we put the pin back in and throw it back,” she says.
Anderson will be busy on the sidelines at University Oval in Dunedin today, helping ensure the White Ferns-Bangladesh match runs smoothly. Her own experience out in the middle - including 26 ODIs and two tests - has helped her understand what the world’s best cricketers want and need.
As a kid growing up in Auckland, Anderson took up cricket by default. She missed out on the netball and softball teams at Mt Roskill Grammar, and took up hockey and cricket instead. It didn’t bother her too much at the time: “I just liked being outside”.
Eleven years after she played her first season for the Auckland women’s cricket side, Anderson was selected to play for New Zealand, at the age of 32. “But I’ve always thought age shouldn’t matter,” the 62-year-old says.
She travelled to England to play in the 1993 World Cup, where the White Ferns reached the final but lost to the home nation by 67 runs. Her team-mates included three New Zealand captains - Debbie Hockley, now the first female president of New Zealand Cricket; Maia Lewis, the ground announcer at the World Cup opener at Bay Oval last Friday; and Emily Drumm, who would lead New Zealand to their only World Cup victory in 2000.
On her test debut, against India, Anderson hit 63 in an opening partnership of 118 with Hockley. That same year, her innings of 82 steered the White Ferns to an important ODI victory over Australia, holding onto the Rose Bowl.
She also played her part in the second highest ODI score in women’s cricketing history – when the White Ferns amassed 455/5 against Pakistan in 1997 (Anderson scored 85 and Lewis hit a century, before Pakistan were all out for 47).
At the same time she was playing international cricket, Anderson was a maths teacher at Hornby High School in Christchurch, where she played most of her first-class cricket.
When she left teaching after 19 years, she was given “a lifeline” – a role as operations manager at Canterbury Cricket. She was there for 21 years.
“I have a maths background – so just give me a scheduling challenge,” she laughs. “Problems are just challenges, everything has a solution. I love organising staff and seeing a plan come together.”
Looking for a new challenge in the first year of Covid, Anderson worked in logistics at MIQ in Christchurch, helping to establish managed isolation and training facilities for sports teams coming into the country.
Then she took on the CWC22 job in February last year; it's the seventh ICC tournament she's worked at.
She’s proud to have increased the cricket knowledge of her team working on this World Cup.
“Not many people in the office knew a lot about cricket; they’re events people. So I would run Cricket 101 sessions for 10 minutes at our staff meetings,” Anderson says. “I’d run a quiz, and make everyone stand up – well, I was a teacher.
“I see my role as protecting the interests of cricket. If they know a bit about the game, it helps them to understand what’s needed.”
Anderson’s role is also to have a good relationship with the managers of the teams at the tournament, making sure they have everything they need at the ground, on training and match days.
That includes stumps and balls. Before each game, bowlers get to choose two from a box of 12 (teams play with four balls in a match).
She works with the turf staff to ensure the pitches and outfields are prepared to the highest standard (“We have to decide on a mowing pattern for the outfield that’s the same at every ground used in the tournament,” she explains). And takes care of the match scorers.
Every team is given an equal chance to train on the grounds they’ll be playing on, including an hour under lights before a day-night game. “We even make sure teams know which side of the ground they’re warming up on on match day, because that’s caused dramas in the past,” Anderson says.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to lose the net bowlers programme because of Covid, which is sad because it was an opportunity for up-and-coming players to bowl at international cricketers.”
While you won't find 62-year-old Anderson in the cricket nets these days, she keeps up her fitness through different means.
Having learned to kayak at the age of 52, she's competed in the Coast to Coast both in a team and as an individual.
“My neighbour was looking for support crew to help him in the Coast to Coast, so I did that twice. Then he asked me one New Year’s Day if I’d do it with him in a team. I had 13 months to train – including learning how to paddle," Anderson recalls.
“Then I did the two-day event on my own – in every photo I’m smiling. If you don’t know what you can’t do, you can do anything.”
She cycled the length of the South Island in 2019, and raised money for families affected by the Nelson fires, and then rode the North Island the following year. “In the last three years, I’ve never cycled less than 200km a month,” she says.
“The way I see it, you have one shot at life, so you need to take every opportunity.”
It’s the same with this World Cup. “I’m so passionate about cricket, but I don’t like the limelight; I just like getting stuff done,” she says.
“These three World Cups in New Zealand are opportunities to show the best women’s sport in the world, and I want to be part of it. You want to make sure you put on the best events you possibly can.”
MEANWHILE AT THE WORLD CUP:
Defending champions England fell short by just 12 runs chasing Australia's phenomenal total of 310 in Hamilton on Saturday. Although Nat Sciver's dashing 109 not out anchored the English chase, the heroics of Australian opener Rachael Haynes, scoring 130, made the difference.
South African seamer Ayabonga Khaka's superb figures of 4-32 led her side to their opening victory of the tournament against World Cup debutants Bangladesh. The newcomers were bowled out for 175 in Dunedin on Saturday, giving the South Africans a 32-run win. Marizanne Kapp top-scored for the winning side with 42.
Fresh from their series loss to the White Ferns, India were clinical in their 107-run defeat of Pakistan at the Mount on Sunday. Indian left-arm orthodox spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad did the most damage, taking 4-31, as Pakistan were bowled out for 137, after India had amassed 244/7. (Pakistan have never won a game on Kiwi soil).
* The White Ferns match against Bangladesh at University Oval, Dunedin, will be live on Sky Sport 2 today at 11am.
