India’s first girls cricket match was played at Kottayam in Kerala
Australian missionary Gwen Kellaway organised India’s first girls’ cricket match at Baker School Ground in Kottayam in 1914.
Australian missionary Gwen Kellaway organised India’s first girls’ cricket match at Baker School Ground in Kottayam in 1914.
Australian missionary Gwen Kellaway organised India’s first girls’ cricket match at Baker School Ground in Kottayam in 1914.
As India celebrates its maiden Women's World Cup triumph, it is worth recalling that the country's first girls' cricket match was held in Kottayam in central Kerala.
According to historical records, an Australian woman named Gwen Kellaway, who reached Kerala in 1912 for missionary work, was the first to organise cricket matches for girls in the country.
Kellaway, who was part of the Church Mission Society, worked as the headmistress of Baker School in Kottayam. In 1913, she insisted that girls should learn cricket. The first girls' cricket match was played at the Baker School Ground in Kottayam in 1914.
Students of Baker School and those who stayed in the hostel of CMS College made up the two teams that comprised 11 players each.
Dr Ashok Alex Philip, former principal of Peet Memorial Training College in Mavelikara and the associate editor of 'Jyananikshepam' said Kellaway shipped in material for the white kits worn by the players from Manchester.
Kellaway used the funds raised from organising girls' matches to aid those who sought treatment at a hospital in Cherthala. She also conducted speeches, titled, 'Pitch Talk', on socially relevant subjects.
Born in Melbourne in 1887, Kellaway was 25 when she arrived in Kerala. According to records, she organised cricket matches in Kottayam until 1925, when she left for Thiruvalla to begin work as the first principal of 'Vanitha Mandiram' started by the Marthoma Church.
She worked with Vanitha Mandiram until 1946, when she returned to Australia. Kellaway named her house in Upwey, a suburb in Melbourne, 'Mandiram'. She died in 1972.