As a young girl, Amanda-jade Wellington excelled at pretty much every sport she put her mind to, but it was cricket that stole her heart.
She was talent spotted early, with one hiccup, when she was prevented from playing in a particular competition because she hit the ball too hard.
Wello loved to bowl, but an accident on the monkey bars in primary school meant that for a time she wore casts on both her wrists. She didn’t want to stop playing, so had to adapt her technique, and that’s how she developed a leg spin!
It was a signature delivery to Tammy Beaumont during last year’s Women’s Ashes that earned her comparisons to Shane Warne. That flatters her immensely.
When Wello’s father Ken wasn’t finessing her bowling in their backyard nets, he was teaching her to fish, and they still enjoy some bonding time, wetting a line together.
There are a bunch of foreshore fishing spots close to Adelaide, and Wello and Ken like St Kilda. It’s low key and quiet, and one of her favourite places to get her mind off cricket.
“A lot of people think it’s just physical but it’s mental as well. You have a lot of mental challenges, and you need mental breaks like going fishing, just relaxing, having time to yourself.”
There is plenty of parking near the St Kilda breakwater, and then it’s a short walk to the best spots at low tide. The breakwater’s known to hold yellow fin and salmon trout at its far end, and mullet, bream and whiting off the rocks. Unfortunately Kimberley says that speaking from experience, if you are unlucky, you might just strike a school of trumpeters who insist on taking your worm before the decent eating fish get to it!
But a highlight of the wait for a bite is watching flocks of black swans swim nearby.
