WA's greatest: Bolton calls time on state career

For almost half her life, Nicole Bolton has been giving everything to cricket, and to Western Australia.

But recently the 32-year-old noticed the absence of that burning desire to give her all to the sport she loves, and realised it was time to walk away.

Bolton announced her retirement from state cricket effective immediately on Friday, ending a 15-year career that started when she debuted for Western Australia aged 16, and featured a one-year stint in Victoria before she returned home in 2015-16.

Labelled Western Australia's greatest ever player by WA Cricket chief executive Christina Matthews, Bolton revealed on Friday the decision to walk away had been some time coming.

"It's probably something I've been thinking about for 12 to 18 months, did I have another year in me? Another two years?" a visibly emotional Bolton told reporters in Perth.

"It's been a really emotional week and there's been a lot of tears, the stages of grieving really.

"If I look back over my career, I've really fortunate I've been able to live out my passion and play the sport I grew up playing with my dad and my brothers and to forge that into a career over 17 years is pretty amazing.

"It wasn't an easy decision. Everyone who knows me well enough knows I do things 110 per cent and now I've developed a few (interests) outside of cricket, my priorities have changed.

"My heart still loves cricket but it's something that's not at the forefront of my mind anymore – if it's not something that I'm able to put in 110 per cent, I think it's time to walk away.

"I walk away a proud WA player, it's been a long 17 years and it's got to this point where I'm a bit tired, to be honest, but really fortunate."

The left-handed top-order batter, who has evolved into something of an allrounder through the latter part of her career after working on her off-spin, will still don the magenta for the Sydney Sixers in this season's Weber WBBL, having made the surprise move away from the Scorchers during the off-season.

While her shirt colour will be different, WBBL|07 will give her a chance to play in front of her native WA crowd for a final time. The Sixers will play three matches in Perth; two at Lilac Hill before Bolton will stride to the middle for one last time at the WACA Ground on November 3.

She will also stay tied to cricket through her coaching role at Subiaco-Floreat Cricket Club.

From her arrival on the WA scene in 2005, making history became something of a habit for Bolton.

Image Id: DAF2E7DB894641D984E91C927B2C89FB Image Caption: History maker: Bolton hits WA's first WNCL hundred // Getty

In 2012, she was the first WA woman to score a Women's National Cricket League century, striking 121 against Tasmania in Perth.

Her maiden opportunity in the green and gold came in 2014, when she was drafted in at the top of the one-day order after Australia lost the opening match of the multi-format Ashes by seven wickets.

The left-hander immediately repaid the faith from the national selectors; on the hallowed turf of the MCG, she hit a brilliant century, becoming the first Australian woman to score a hundred on ODI debut with a 152-ball 124.

Image Id: CFEAF6A20E0345DF91133B26027B1D39 Image Caption: Bolton celebrates international tons in 2014, 2017 and 2018 // Getty

It was her only century on home soil, but she showed her aptitude across various conditions with centuries in England, Sri Lanka and India in the years that followed.

A lock at the top of the order of Australia's one-day team for years, Bolton shocked many when she announced she was walking away from the game midway through the 2018-19 WBBL season to focus on her mental health.

She later spoke expansively on the build-up to that moment that left her physically and mentally burnt out, before she fought her way back to return to the Australian squad for their 2019 Ashes tour of the United Kingdom.

The stage had been set for a fairytale return to the highest level, but it did not eventuate; opening the batting in four innings across three ODIs and one Test, Bolton hit a total of 13 runs and later withdrew herself from consideration for the subsequent tour of the West Indies.

Looking back on that Ashes tour during the 2020-21 WBBL season, Bolton told cricket.com.au she had no regrets.

"I'm forever grateful I was given that opportunity to play in another Ashes," she said.

"If that means that was the last series, I would be really stoked with the career I've had."

While that Test in Taunton was the last of 55 times Bolton represented her country, one of the crowning moments of her domestic career was still to come.

The left-hander might have started the 2019-20 domestic season unsure of her place in the game, but she ended it having left an indelible mark on the history of Western Australian cricket.

In 24 seasons, NSW – who historically boast a fair portion of the Australian team in their best XI – had claimed the coveted Ruth Preddy Trophy in the WNCL on 20 occasions. Prior to the 2019-20 season, Western Australia had never won it.

On February 16, 2020 that changed, when WA defeated the Breakers in the final at North Sydney Oval, with Bolton leading the charge.

She top-scored with 67 in the final and finished the season as the league's leading run-scorer, striking 436 runs at 48.44, alongside her 16 wickets at 19.43, and was fittingly named the player of the tournament.

"I played a lot of games for Australia, but that's something I never thought I would achieve in my career," Bolton said of the WNCL title, who put the moment up there with receiving her Baggy Green in Canterbury in 2015.

On Friday, an emotional Bolton paid tribute to her parents; her father Allan famously a constant presence beside the sightscreen when he watched his daughter bat, always wearing his iconic, battered Subiaco-Floreat CC jacket.

"He and my mum travelled the world to see me play, to see the joy on their faces was some of the best moments of my life, to be honest," she said.

"To have them there wiping the tears away, they were there when I was snicking off for fun, they've been there for the good times."

While WA's title defence did not go to plan last summer, as they claimed just two wins from eight matches, Bolton finished the season with a superb 100no against Victoria at the WACA Ground, in what would turn out to be her final innings for her state.

"I think maybe there was a piece of me when I walked off the WACA Ground and we'd beaten Victoria that I thought it might be my last game," she revealed on Friday.

"But I was determined to have another crack this season, but the longer it went and after I found some work (outside of cricket) it drew me into thinking it was the right time to walk away."

Nicole Bolton’s brilliant WNCL career

• 3158 WNCL runs for WA and Victoria
• Nine WNCL centuries (seven for WA, two for Victoria)
• WA’s leading WNCL run scorer with 2758 runs
• WA’s leading WNCL centurion
• First WA woman to score a WNCL century (121 v Tasmania in 2012)
• Five-time Zoe Goss medallist
• Three-time WNCL player of the year
• Player of the WNCL final in 2019-20

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