Stella Owens

The Women’s Place

Stella Downes reviews the career of one of the most talented Irish players ever

Stella Owens was probably the most naturally talented cricketer to grace the women’s scene in Ireland.

Even now, 5 years after her retirement from the game, her ability is spoken of with awe.  She set standards most people can only aspire to – and seemed to do so with effortless grace.

Stella was an exceptional fast bowler which probably led to the injuries that cut her career short.  As a bat the fluency of her shots could tear a bowling attack apart.

Stella lived in Clontarf with a garden that backed onto the cricket ground so it was only natural that she should become involved in cricket at an early stage.

Many talk of the little girl with long blonde hair who seemed to be a fixture in the club – wandering around, cricket ball in hand, in search of people to play with.

There was no cricket for young girls in Clontarf at that time, so Stella joined in with the boys.  She was readily accepted because of her obvious talent and they all wanted to play on her team, rather than have to play against her!

She played on various teams up to under 13 level until a rule was introduced preventing girls from playing schoolboy cricket. As she was the only girl doing so, we can only assume that she was the reason for the rule!

The obvious progression was for Stella to play for the women’s team even though she was still only a child.

In Barclay’s World of Cricket there is a mention of a women’s cup final in Dublin where the player of the Match was an 11 year old.  No prizes for guessing who the 11 year old was!

Ladies 1st Team 1976 with Stella (aged 11) kneeling in front

During her years with Clontarf she played on many more cup and league winning sides, including the team that won the treble (cup, league and 40 overs) for five years in succession.  Her contribution was always invaluable.

She played with Clontarf throughout her school years while also representing Holy Faith Convent.  When she went to UCD she again broke with tradition to become the first female to be selected on a university team to play in the Inter-Varsity Tournament.  Peter Prendergast, the captain of the side, must have had some explaining to do!!

Stella’s first international cap came in 1983 when she was 17.  In that year she played in a quadrangular tournament scoring 85 not out against Young Holland and taking 3 for 14 against Denmark.  Her all round performances in that competition earned her “Player of the Tournament” award.

 In her 35 matches for Ireland (1983-93) she scored 697 runs at an average of 24. She stopped bowling in 1988 having taken 19 wickets at an average of 28.4 at international level.

Stella was, and is, a quiet person who let her cricket do the talking for her.  She has, beneath that quiet exterior, a wonderful sense of humour and in her time with Clontarf was a very popular tourist.

If a tour was being organised to anywhere – regardless of the destination or the quality if the cricket – her’s was the first name on the list.  She was equally happy turning out for Ireland in Australia or a touring side in Wexford.

Since her retirement from the game she has been involved in the game at an administrative level.  Her final playing years were with Ulster as she had moved north to work – much to the disappointment of Clontarf and North Leinster.  Just as when she was a child, you would rather be on her team than playing against her!

 (First published in the Irish Cricket Review, August 1998)