Lauren Ebsary

Lauren Kaye Ebsary (born 15 March 1983) is an Australian cricketer.

Primarily a batter, she is a former member of the Australia national women's cricket team.

While pursuing her secondary education at Snowtown Area School, attended a cricket coaching clinic organised by her school in 1996.

It was there that her talent was noticed by Australian Test player and development officer for the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) Joanne Broadbent, who said that Ebsary "had a lot of potential from the start".

After Ebsary made her debut for Australia, Broadbent said "I’ve always believed Lauren had the capacity to represent her country."

Ebsary was initially a tall and gangly pace bowler who mixed testing deliveries with erratic ones, including many wides.

During her teenage years before she acquired a driver's licence, Ebsary's mother drove her to the state capital, Adelaide—more than 100 km away—to play for the Flinders University Cricket Club in SACA's district women's competition on weekends.

Back in Snowtown, she practised against her father and one of her brothers.

In 1997–98 she attended the state under-17s trials and was successful in gaining selection at the age of 14.

Due to the lack of opportunities to females to play cricket at local youth level, she played her first competitive game at the national championships in Brisbane.

Ebsary made her senior debut for South Australia in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) during the 2000–01 season at the age of 18.

Although she played in every match in her first season, she was shielded from much of the action and made only six runs.

Ebsary was selected in every match in her first three seasons, but in that time, scored only 136 runs at a batting average of 8.50 and took 13 wickets from 24 matches.

The following year, Ebsary raised her career average above 10 for the first time and was selected in the Australian Under-23 team.

In January 2000, at the age of 16, Ebsary was chosen for the South Australian team for the Under-19 interstate championships.

Playing as a specialist batsman—she bowled a solitary wicketless over in six matches—she failed to pass five with the bat in her first five matches, before scoring an unbeaten 34 in the final match against Tasmania.

Nevertheless, it was not a successful tournament, yielding 45 runs at a batting average of 9.00.

Despite the lack of success at youth interstate level, Ebsary was promoted into the senior South Australian team in the 2000–01 season at the age of 17, playing in all of her state's eight matches in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL).

She made her debut against reigning champions New South Wales, and after not batting, took one wicket for the loss of six runs (1/6) from two overs as South Australia lost by seven wickets.

In the next match of the double-header the next day, she took 0/15 from two overs and was run out for a duck in her maiden senior innings in a 22-run loss.

During the season, Ebsary often batted at the bottom of the order in a specialist bowler's position and thus rarely batted, but she hardly bowled, delivering only six overs in total in her first seven matches.

In effect, she was shielded from taking on a meaningful workload and not trusted to contribute with either bat or ball.

In the last match of the season, she was finally given a substantial opportunity against Queensland, taking 3/21 from seven overs, as South Australia proceeded to a six-wicket victory.

Nevertheless, in eight matches she scored only six runs at 2.00 in three innings, and took five wickets at a bowling average of 9.40 and an economy rate of 3.61.

South Australia won only three matches and did not make the finals.

During the 2001–02 WNCL, Ebsary played in all eight matches, and was given more responsibility.

This season, she batted in seven innings and bowled 51 of a maximum possible 80 overs.

In the first match of the season, she took 3/29 from 10 overs against the titleholders New South Wales, and she scored 51 in the fifth match against Victoria.

Ebsary did not have a significant impact in the other matches, never taking more than one wicket per match or reaching double figures with the bat.

She ended the season with 67 runs at 9.57 and six wickets at 30.83 at an economy rate of 3.62.

South Australia won four of their eight matches and did not make the final.

In 2004–05 she made more than 100 runs in a season for the first time, and the following year she made 149 runs at 29.80.

In 2006–07, she struggled and totalled only 101 runs at 14.42 and took three wickets, and after the season she transferred to Western Australia.

The change of state yielded dividends in the 2007–08 season, as she made 236 runs and took eight wickets, her highest aggregate of runs and wickets in one tournament.

At the start of the 2008–09 season, Ebsary gained selection to the Australian national team and made her One Day International (ODI) debut in the home series against India.

She made 37 runs at 18.50, and after scoring 207 runs in the WNCL season, was retained in the national team.

After making her ODI top-score of 86 in the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand, she was selected for the 2009 World Cup, but was in and out of the team, making 106 runs at 35.33.

In June 2009, she played in all of Australia's matches at the 2009 World Twenty20 and made her Test debut against England in a bilateral series after the World Twenty20.

Ebsary scored 211 runs during the 2009–10 WNCL season to retain her position in the national squad for the Rose Bowl series, but after a series of poor performances, she spent the latter half of the campaign watching from the sidelines.

Born in Snowtown, South Australia, Lauren Ebsary was one of four children—two boys and two girls—of Peter and Kaye Ebsary.