Belinda Clark switches from NSW Breakers to play for Victoria
Clark said she struggled to lead a team she rarely trained with, and NSW players said they were unhappy with the move to Victoria.
Australia women's captain Belinda Clark switched her state allegiance from New South Wales to Victoria ahead of the 2001-02 season, Cricket Australia said in a statement.
Clark had moved from Sydney to Melbourne for work in September 2000, when she was chosen from 55 applicants as the top candidate for executive director of Women's Cricket Australia.
She said at the time that it was hard to make the transition to supposedly play for "the enemy."
Through the 2000-01 summer, Clark kept playing for the NSW Breakers, flying interstate for match weekends while training with Victoria at the state's Institute of Sport.
She scored 451 runs at 56.37 for NSW that season, the second-highest total in the Women's National Cricket League, and led the Breakers to a fifth straight finals win.
Clark said she found it difficult to lead a team when she was not with them all the time, which prompted her to change states.
Victoria welcomed the move, with former teammate Kelly Applebee recalling the club was "just pumped" to have the Australian captain join.
NSW allrounder Lisa Sthalekar recalled that the squad was unhappy, saying the two states had a deep rivalry and that moving states rarely happened at the time.
Victoria had finished last in the 2000-01 competition, and Clark said she believed the team needed one more batter, adding that she wanted to provide more "grunt" in the batting order.