Valley stalwart earns Qld life membership
Katherine Raymont has been awarded Queensland Cricket life membership.
Raymont, who has been a player, coach, selector and administrator during her long career, received the award from Queensland Cricket Chairman Sal Vasta at the annual general meeting on Tuesday night.
In 1990, she became the first Queenslander in 34 years to represent Australia at women’s Test level, and the first Queenslander to play a one-day international.
The Laidley product and long-time Gatton resident did not start playing cricket competitively until the age of 19, and went on to play for Queensland from 1980-81 to 1993-94, captaining the side for 10 of those seasons.
A prolific scoring batter, Raymont won the player of the year award on three occasions, then spent another decade as a state selector upon her retirement.
She has also coached and managed many state underage teams and spent nine years (1991-2000) as a director of the Australian Women’s Cricket Council.
Since women’s cricket became administered by Queensland Cricket in 1997-98, she has been a member of the women’s committee and the grade committee.
She played for, and coached Wests to several titles in the women’s first grade competition which was named in her honour, with teams now competing for the Katherine Raymont Shield in one-day and Twenty20 formats.
Raymont said she was honoured to be recognised and thanked her family for supporting her career.
“My family allowed me to play the game but also to give back to it as well,” she said. “This award is shared by all the girls who I have been involved with over the years and I hope I have been a positive influence in their cricketing careers and in their lives.”