Juggling motherhood and cricket: How Australia’s Sarah Elliott batted a ton whilst breastfeeding at intervals

Australian cricketer Sarah Elliott recently opened up about juggling motherhood and her cricket career.
Elliott, who was offered a deal with Cricket Australia during her early stages of pregnancy, first turned it down. However, within 24 hours, she had a change of heart. A day later, she called the selector Julie Savage back and told her she was ready to accept the offer.
The batting-allrounder then gave birth to a son (Sam) and scored a century the following year whilst breastfeeding the newborn during intervals.
Sam was born in October 2012 and was nine months old when Australia were looking to defend the Women’s Ashes in England in the summer of 2013. Elliott, who made 81 not out on her Test debut against England in 2011, had done the calculations.
“I knew I had to play half of the domestic season in Australia to be in contention for the Ashes,” the now 41-year-old,” she told BBC Sport.
“I was in the gym a couple of weeks after Sam was born, but Cricket Australia wouldn’t let me play competitive cricket for six weeks.”
“I would have played sooner, but I’m glad they held me off. That first game of club cricket was pretty tough,” she added.
Elliott used to live in Darwin, but she played club cricket in Victoria. Adding to the struggles she faced as a parent, she revealed, “There was a game when Sam was crying, and I was fielding. One of the oppositions who was already out said that she would sub-field for me so I could go off and feed him.”
After her performance in the club cricket, Elliott was called up to feature in the Ashes tour. With the responsibility of an infant on her shoulders, the Aussie cricketer planned her itinerary, which suited her kid and her game.
“We had to hire a car because Sam couldn’t travel on the team bus. All these things and decisions on who paid for what was groundbreaking because they hadn’t been made before,” she said.
“Despite the tiredness, I was happy to be batting first. I was there for a purpose – to bat in two innings. Once I stepped over the line, it was about watching the ball and hitting it.”
“You absolutely tune into those things, the switching on and off, then getting back into the game,” she added.
“I knew where he was, either on the ba mat having a bit of a play, or being walked on a lap of the ground Rob or my parents.”
She revealed that even during the breaks, she didn’t have time to take her pads off; instead, she used to nurse her kid.
“The minute I came off at a break, it was straight to feed Sam,” she says.
“When I was batting, there was nowhere else to go other than the changing room with the other girls, which got a real laugh from them,” she added.
Elliott batted for the remainder of the first day, reaching the close on 95 not out.
“I would have loved to tick off the century that night,” she says.
“The minute I came off at the end I was tuned into what Sam needed to eat and then to get to sleep. There was no downtime there. It was a rough night.”
The next day, Elliott finished her Ashes century and reached three figures while battling off an assault with the likes of Katherine Sciver-Brunt, Anya Shrubsole, Jenny Gunn, and Laura Marsh.
“There was a dant eye contact with Rob. It wasn’t a pretty innings, but knowing what it had taken to get there, that we had pulled it off. To perform and make those runs, was really, really special,” she said.
Following her hundred, she made headlines as the mum who scored a ton whilst breastfeeding her kid. Elliott, however, was more focused on the innings she stitched.
“I was just doing my job, focused on a goal that I wanted to achieve,” she says.
“I was oblivious to the significance that other people attached to it. The significance for me was that I’d never made a Test hundred before, as opposed to being a mum that had done it,” she added.
She was carrying her ba Jocelyn when she played in her last professional game for Adelaide Strikers in the Women’s Big Bash League in 2017.
“Sam is at that age where he’s proud of what I did,” says Elliott. “He pulled out the baggy green cap to take it to school and show off. He thinks it’s pretty special.
“I was picked in the team against the odds to do a job and I was really pleased to score those runs. To be able to play Test cricket and have my son with me was really special,” she concluded.