South Aussie triple-threat to defend Ashes at Adelaide Oval
Don the green and gold in front of your hometown crowd at Adelaide Oval, defend The Ashes, and do it all with your best mates by your side? Mission accepted.
Known to each another as Darce, T-Mac and Shooter, the Australian women’s cricket team’s trio of Croweaters spends so much time together on tour that their teammates have affectionately dubbed them the “SACA sisters”.
“The three of us do everything together and it’s a bit of a running joke within the team that: ‘oh, the SACA girls are hanging out again’,” laughs Australian vice-captain Tahlia McGrath about her close connection with her fellow SA teammates Megan Schutt and Darcie Brown.
“Tour life can be very lonely at times, often in different time zones to our family and friends back home, spending a lot of nights in hotel rooms, so it’s nice that the three of us have each other to lean on,” says Tahlia.
“We literally do everything together from going to breakfast every morning to eating dinner most nights. When we get rest days to go out and explore, it makes it extra special when I’ve got two besties with me to experience it.”
The trio admit they have such different personalities that they mightn’t have become friends if not for cricket. However, it’s their differences that make their friendship work so well. “We’re playing the entire year; tour after tour. But we’re not sick of each other yet,” says Tahlia.
The three South Australian players aren’t the only SA faces in the successful side either. Coach, Shelley Nitschke, team physio Kate Beerworth and media manager Lucy Williams are all South Australian, too.
For Darcie Brown, having two experienced teammates from Adelaide has helped her settle into life on the Australian team.
This summer, they will have a rare opportunity to compete on their home deck of Adelaide Oval on Saturday, January 25, in a T20 match as part of the Women’s Ashes series against age-old rivals, England.
You might like
Unlike the men’s Ashes, which is played in a purely Test format, the Women’s Ashes is a multi-format series, featuring three one-day internationals and three T20 matches, and culminates with one day-night Test Match, to be played at the MCG.
“It’s rare that we get to play for Australia in Adelaide and whenever there’s an international fixture released, the first thing the three of us do is look for games at Adelaide Oval,” says Tahlia.
“All three of us will have friends and family in the crowd. Playing at home for your country on your favourite ground in the world is just extra special. We’ll be asking for a lot of tickets.
“South Australians love their sport. We get lots of passionate fans here at our games and the crowd cheers a little louder whenever they hear our names.”
Megan is the longest-serving of the three South Australian players, having debuted in 2012. For much of that time, the gun swing bowler was the sole South Aussie in the national squad.
“I was a little bitter about it for a while, but now having the three of us in the team, and then half of our staff being from Adelaide as well, is pretty special,” says Megan.
“The three of us are real homebodies and travelling isn’t our favourite thing, but it’s what we do for at least half the year. I think that’s why we’re so close.
Ranked among the world’s top 10 bowlers across each format of the game, Adelaide star Megan Schutt will be a key weapon for Australia in the upcoming Ashes series.
“On tour, Darce and Tahlia are great for me because every now and again, I need a bit of coercing to come out of my hotel room and have some fun. Darce still has the heart of a tourist, whereas I sometimes have the ‘been there, done that’ attitude. They’re great at picking me up when I need it.”
The 2025 Ashes campaign will be Megan’s eighth and playing at home carries special meaning now that she has her wife Jess and their daughter Rylee watching from the stands.
“Playing at Adelaide Oval is extra special now that I’ve got a little daughter, and she wears a Schutt shirt – that’s pretty darn cool. It’s a reminder for me that cricket isn’t the be-all and end-all. You can have a poor day, and Rylee isn’t going to care how I bowled. She and Jess are just happy to be there and to see me. That’s the beauty of playing at home,” says Megan.
Subscribe for updates
The trio encourage South Australians to go along and show their support at the Adelaide T20 match, hopefully bolstering the case to schedule more Australian women’s cricket games at Adelaide Oval.
“We have seen the support for the Matildas, so I don’t see why that can’t be the same for us,” says Megan.
“In my opinion we have moved beyond the smaller grounds and I think Adelaide Oval is a great venue for us. I’m quite vocal about pushing for more games there. It’s always a cracker surface and it’s obviously a venue we hold very dearly, so hopefully we’ll get a big crowd.
“And what I love about our Ashes is the fact that it is across three formats; it’s a true test of versatility between the teams.”
For Darcie, the chance to play on Adelaide Oval links all the way back to when her junior cricket team had their photo taken on the revered ground. “It was such a cool moment, so I plucked some grass out of the ground and put it in my pocket so I could plant it at home, because I didn’t think I’d ever be back. But then I forgot about it and Mum washed my pants,” laughs Darcie.
Australian vice-captain Tahlia McGrath says that as soon as an international fixture is released, she is quick to check what games will be played at Adelaide Oval.
“Growing up, it was super special coming to Adelaide Oval to watch sport, and to be on the other side of the fence is even cooler because I remember being that young kid by the race watching the players.”
When Tahlia, Megan and Darcie get some rare downtime at home away from touring, they each have their own ways to reconnect and unwind. Megan spends time with her family, Darcie enjoys going back to her home in the Barossa to spend time with her family and watch local sport, and Tahlia finds joy in simply doing her own laundry.
“Everyone pays me out because I just love doing my own laundry, but I also like getting away to the beach and seeing friends and family,” Tahlia says.
Australia has retained the Women’s Ashes since 2015. Although the rival English and Australian cricketers know each other well off the field, Tahlia explains that all friendships are on hold when the Ashes kick off. “It’s hard fought, it’s passionate, and we badly want to beat each other,” she says.
“There’s a proper rivalry and a little unfinished business, because the last series over in England finished with a draw that saw us retain the Ashes. England feel as if they’ve got a sniff that they can beat us, while we want to win outright. It’s on.”
Australia versus England in the Ashes T20 match at Adelaide Oval on Saturday, January 25. For tickets, visit cricket.com.au
This article first appeared in the January 2025 issue of SALIFE magazine.
