{{short description|Australian cricketer}} {{Use Australian English|date=February 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Hazel Pritchard | image = Ruby Monaghan and Hazel Pritchard.jpg | caption = Pritchard ''(right)'' walking out to bat in the second women's Test match. | female = true | country = Australia | fullname = Hazel Doreen Pritchard | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1913|12|23}} | birth_place = Sydney, NSW, Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1967|11|03|1913|12|23}} | death_place = Sydney, NSW, Australia | batting = Right-handed | international = true | testdebutdate = 28 December | testdebutyear = 1934 | testdebutagainst = England | testcap = 2 | lasttestdate = 10 July | lasttestyear = 1937 | lasttestagainst = England | club1 = New South Wales | year1 = 1931– | clubnumber1 = | club2 = | year2 = | clubnumber2 = | club3 = | year3 = | clubnumber3 = | club4 = | year4 = | clubnumber4 =
| hidedeliveries = true | columns = 1 | column1 = Test | matches1 = 6 | runs1 = 340 | bat avg1 = 28.33 | 100s/50s1 = 0/3 | top score1 = 87 | catches/stumpings1 = 1/0
| date = 17 February | year = 2013 | source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/53473.html ESPNcricinfo }} ''' Hazel Doreen Pritchard''' (23 December 1913 – 3 November 1967) was a cricketer who played for the Australia women's national cricket team between 1934 and 1937. She opened the batting for Australia in the first Women's Test match, against England on 28 December 1934. A right-handed batsman, she scored 340 runs in international matches, at an average of 28.33. In 2011, she was inducted into the Cricket New South Wales Hall of Fame.
==Life and career== Pritchard was born in Sydney on 23 December 1913.<ref name="ciprof">{{cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/53473.html |title=Player Profile: Hazel Pritchard |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |accessdate=17 February 2013}}</ref> She made her debut in state cricket for New South Wales in 1931 at the age of 17.<ref name="nswhof">{{cite web |url=http://cricketnsw.com.au/news/latest-news/2011/3/24/cricket-nsw-hall-of-fame-inductees |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130403214124/http://cricketnsw.com.au/news/latest-news/2011/3/24/cricket-nsw-hall-of-fame-inductees |url-status=dead |archive-date=3 April 2013 |title=Cricket NSW Hall of Fame inductees |publisher=Cricket New South Wales |date=24 March 2011 |accessdate=17 February 2013 }}</ref> During England's 1934–35 tour of Australia and New Zealand, she faced the touring side in four matches. The first of these appearances was for New South Wales, for whom she top-scored in both innings, making 27 and 75 in a match that England won by seven wickets.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/154/154470.html |title=New South Wales Women v England Women: England Women in Australia and New Zealand 1934/35 |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> In the following match, the first Women's Test match, Pritchard faced the first ball.<ref name="ciprof"/> She eventually hit her own wicket after scoring four runs. In the second innings, she improved, scoring 20 runs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/15/15270.html |title= Australia Women v England Women: England Women in Australia and New Zealand 1934/35 (1st Test) |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> She fared less well in the second Test, suffering a pair: being dismissed without scoring in both innings.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/15/15280.html |title=Australia Women v England Women: England Women in Australia and New Zealand 1934/35 (2nd Test) |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> In the third match, she batted in the middle order in the first innings, and returned to open the batting in the second, scoring five runs in each innings of the drawn match.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/15/15285.html |title=Australia Women v England Women: England Women in Australia and New Zealand 1934/35 (3rd Test) |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>
During the 1936–37 season, she scored the first century in women's interstate cricket, retiring out after scoring 144 against Queensland.<ref name="nswhof"/> She was part of the Australian team which toured England in 1937. During that tour, she was Australia's most effective batsman, scoring 306 Test runs at an average of 51.00.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_Women_in_England_1937/wt_Australia_Women_Batting.html |title=Women's Test Batting and Fielding for Australia Women: Australia Women in England 1937 |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013 |archive-date=11 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211133218/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_Women_in_England_1937/wt_Australia_Women_Batting.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> She began the tour strongly, with scores of 74 not out against Kent,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/154/154485.html |title=Kent Women v Australia Women: Australia Women in England 1937 |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> and 96 and 43 not out against the Midlands.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/154/154487.html |title=Midlands Women v Australia Women: Australia Women in England 1937 |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> She helped Australia to victory in the first Test match, hitting 87 runs in the first innings and 17 in the second.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16220.html |title=England Women v Australia Women: Australia Women in England 1937 (1st Test) |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> During her next match, against a team representing the "North of England", she scored the first century by an Australian woman in England, remaining 144 not out as Australia recorded a large victory.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/154/154490.html |title=North Women v Australia Women: Australia Women in England 1937 |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> Pritchard top-scored for Australia in both innings of the second Test, making 67 and 41, but a century from Myrtle Maclagan helped England to win by 25 runs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16257.html |title=England Women v Australia Women: Australia Women in England 1937 (2nd Test) |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref> She recorded a half-century and two low scores in tour matches before the third Test, in which she scored 28 runs in the first innings and 66 in the second in a drawn match.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/16/16291.html |title=England Women v Australia Women: Australia Women in England 1937 (3rd Test) |publisher=CricketArchive |accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>
Her performances drew comparisons to Don Bradman, and she was nicknamed the "Girl Bradman".<ref name="nswhof"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17388501 |title=WOMEN CRICKETERS MAKE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=3 August 1937 |accessdate=24 February 2013 |page=20 Supplement: Women's Supplement |publisher=National Library of Australia}} </ref> The outbreak of the Second World War ended her cricket career; in all she scored 340 Test runs at an average of 28.33, with a top-score of 87.<ref name="ciprof"/> Her contributions were recognised in 2011, when she was inducted into the Cricket New South Wales Hall of Fame.<ref name="nswhof"/> She died on 3 November 1967 in Sydney, aged 53.<ref name="ciprof"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * {{cite news |last1=Hutcheon |first1=Jane |author1-link=Jane Hutcheon |title=Family unearths story of Australian cricket's 'girl Bradman' Hazel Pritchard |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-27/cricket-hazel-pritchard-girl-bradman-women-cricket-test-1937/106100096 |access-date=27 December 2025 |work=ABC News |date=27 December 2025 |language=en-AU}} {{refend}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Hazel}} Category:1913 births Category:1967 deaths Category:Australia women Test cricketers Category:Cricketers from Sydney Category:Sportswomen from New South Wales Category:20th-century Australian sportswomen