Vale Reverend Joyce Polson OAM

A passionate servant of the game, Joyce represented WA on multiple occasions and was an influential advocate for schoolgirls cricket.  

Joyce earned cap No.71 when making her State debut in the 1961-62 Australian Women’s Cricket Carnival, held in Perth.

The right-arm medium-pace bowler was selected again the following season for a series in Adelaide, taking career-best figures of 4-52.

She later featured during the State team’s 1967-68 trip to Melbourne, aged 40, and enjoyed a fruitful career as Fremantle’s captain-coach.

More significant than her considerable talents as a player, however, was Joyce’s influence on younger generations of female cricketers.

Joyce proved instrumental in establishing the inaugural WA State Schoolgirls team in 1972, having been the long-term cricket coach at St Mary’s Anglican Girls School where she worked for more than two decades.

Affectionately known as ‘The Deac’ (deaconess), Joyce also established a Veterans team in 1985-86 to compete in the WA Women’s Cricket Association club competition.

Away from cricket, Joyce committed her life to the Anglican Church.

In 1992, Joyce became one of the first women in Australia to be ordained as Priest at St George's Cathedral. 

Seven years later, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to the community through the Anglican Church.

WA Cricket sends its deepest sympathies to Reverend Joyce Polson OAM's family and friends.