As a coach with the Ultimate Pace Foundation, Catherine Dalton has made quite a few trips to India, holding camps at Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Delhi. One of the few bio-mechanics expert to be associated with fast bowlers, she expects the forthcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to be the game changer for women’s cricket.
“There is high expectations as far as quality is concerned. The buzz can be felt worldwide,” she told The Hindu from London. “It’s going up. The game is getting bigger. With the World Cup coming up we are going to see some fantastic cricket. It’s exciting time for women’s cricket. There is place for women’s cricket which has increasingly become competitive.”
Catherine has had very pleasant experience of coaching in India. “I have never experienced any resistance as a woman coach. When I went to India I wasn’t sure how I would be received by the players. The players warmed to me very quickly because they could see they could learn something from me. I was fortunate to have a good understanding of the game, particularly of the bio-mechanics of the fast bowling.”
Like many in India, Catherine also picked up the game watching her father and brothers play. “When I was younger I used to be taken to our local cricket club where my brother played lots of cricket. I decided to join and fell in love with the game. I was nine years old at that time. I just got hooked to cricket. I also played tennis and a huge amount of football. I just wanted to bowl fast because I wanted to do things quickly,” said Catherine, who also played football for West Ham Club.
“When I was 17, at a cricket camp, I decided to give cricket a full go. That was the turning point I switched from football to cricket.”
The biggest highlight for Catherine was working with Deepak Chahar when she was invited by the Rajasthan Cricket Association a few years ago to do a specific fast bowling camp. “I learnt a lot from him and hopefully passed on some of my knowledge to him as well,” said Catherine, named Middlesex Player Of The Year in 2013.
