She says the initial call was “out of the blue”, but she had been playing for the Wellington Blaze women’s cricket team throughout her final years at Tawa College, so it certainly wasn’t unearned. Her career has meant she needs flexibility in her study. “I started originally with a geography degree, and started doing two papers per trimester of a Bachelor of Science,” says Georgia.
She gives full credit to her early lecturers for supporting her in her Geography papers, but the three-hour labs were increasingly difficult to balance with professional cricket.
“I really enjoyed geography, but it became too hard being away for field trips, so I picked up accounting and changed to a Bachelor of Commerce, which is easier to do online. My dad is an accountant, and that helps a bit.
“With time zones and trying to get assignments in on time, lecturers have been good if I email them to get a couple of extra days to do things. I had to do this for an assignment while I was in Dubai for the World Cup.”
When she is based in Wellington, cricket training usually takes up her mornings, but when she has a chance to get into an in-person lecture, she does. She also comes up to uni to study in the afternoons, as she finds it helps to be away from cricket so she can focus completely on her studies. “But it is great that most of the lectures are recorded, so it doesn’t matter where I am in the world, I can still catch up.”
Winning the T20 World Cup was “unreal,” says Georgia. “We didn’t have the best track record, losing 10 games in a row, but as we played the games, and got into the semi-final, and then the final. It was bananas.” Since the teams’ return to New Zealand, they have been touring main centres with their medals and the trophy.
With her success in T20 uppermost in her mind, Georgia favours the quicker form of cricket, but says her mood changes depending on what she is doing well in at the time! “A big topic at the moment is that women’s teams don’t play test cricket—they do in other countries, but not here.”
Georgia is confident that she can make a good living as a cricket player, but explains she possibly began playing at the perfect time to allow this. “I came in just as investment started going to women’s cricket here in New Zealand. We have equal match fees with the men. But some of the older players still in the team were playing when you had to pay for all your own gear and that sort of stuff.
“There are also now franchise leagues coming up all over the world, particularly the WPL in India, where you can earn massive money even when you’ve retired from international cricket.”
While Georgia hopes to still be playing cricket in 15 years, she is keen to continue to study part-time to ensure she has a fallback option.
“I’m still likely mid-30s when retiring from professional sport, so I will have 30 more years to work. That will be when the degree will come in handy!”
Georgia will begin her season with the Wellington Blaze this weekend at the Basin Reserve.