Grace Harris: The Fun-Loving Cricketer Making Waves with Unconventional Style

On July 1, 2023, at Edgbaston, Grace Harris walked out to bat at the fall of Ash Gardner’s wicket, singing Bon Jovi‘s Living on a Prayer. Australia needed 24 runs off 19 balls to win the first T20I against England. Harris dragged her first ball, off Sarah Glenn, on to the stumps and was dismissed for a golden duck, giving England a sniff at victory.

“There are few days when I smile, I worry about the perception of it,” says Harris, the perennially fun-loving Queenslander. “Now because I got out first ball, it was very much a criticism of how I walked out to bat even though I’ve walked out to bat in a state game singing and hit 100 runs in 80 balls. There’s a perception that if it goes wrong, you don’t take cricket seriously or you aren’t competitive.”

A laughing and chirping assassin with the bat, Grace Harris is amongst the rarest kind in the competitive world of professional sports, where the display of aggression is appealing and expected. It might be a natural portrayal of herself, but a rare sight otherwise in cricket, or most sports.

“Some of my teammates say that ‘there is a look in your eye that says…’. Well, I don’t know how to replicate the look in my eyes, they are what they are,” Harris rants in rather comical frustration of the perception built around her style of play.

“There is nobody who scores hundreds every day or every game they play. You compete with the energy levels you have on that day and in those conditions. Sometimes you could be on and flying, but you get an absolute peach of a ball first up and you’re out for a duck. Golden!

“But if I walked out not singing, all serious and scored a duck, do they say ‘you’re not on’, just because you looked serious? It’s got to work both ways.”