Alex Blackwell (cricketer) - International Debut

International Debut

At the end of the season, Blackwell was called into the national team for a quadrangular ODI tournament held in Lincoln in New Zealand. In addition to the hosts and Australia, England and India were also competing. Each team played two matches against the other three teams in the round-robin phase. Blackwell made her debut in Australia's second match, against England, but neither batted nor bowled in a seven-wicket win. In the next match, against India, she scored 27 before being run out and had unexpected success as a bowler, taking 2/8 from six overs in a 59-run win. She was left out of Australia's fourth match, against England, but returned for the last two qualifying matches. She took 2/18 against India before making six not out as the winning runs were scored against the hosts. In the final, she made 21 as Australia scored 214 and defeated the hosts by 109 runs. Blackwell ended her first international series with 54 runs at 27.00 and four wickets at 8.50 at an economy rate of 2.61. The success with the ball is something she has not repeated. In seven years since, she had only taken two more wickets at international level.

Australia then hosted England in two Tests. Blackwell made her debut at The Gabba in Brisbane. In a low-scoring match, she bowled 11 overs including six maidens, registering figures of 0/9 as the tourists made 124 batting first. Blackwell then came in at 4/40 and made four from 14 balls in her maiden Test innings before being dismissed by Laura Newton, precipitating a collapse of 6/28 as Australia fell to be all out for 78. After England was all out for 92, Blackwell came to the crease with the score at 4/104, with 35 runs still needed for victory. She and Michelle Goszko batted slowly, adding seven runs in nine overs before the latter was out. Blackwell was then joined by Julie Hayes, who scored 18 of the remaining 28 runs required for victory. Blackwell was nine not out and was at the crease when the winning runs were registered with five wickets in hand, having batted for 85 balls in 85 minutes. Despite her circumspect batting, Blackwell was retained for the Second Test at Bankstown Oval in Sydney. Australia batted first and Blackwell came in at 4/90. Soon after, her partners Mel Jones and Hayes fell in quick succession as Australia lost 3/13 to be 6/103. Blackwell then added 21 with Cathryn Fitzpatrick before the former was out for 13; this triggered a collapse of 4/10 as Australia were all out for 134. Blackwell came in at 4/49 with Australia still four runs behind in the second innings. She added 136 in 226 minutes for the fifth wicket with Lisa Sthalekar before being dismissed for 58, having hit six boundaries from 236 balls. In pursuit of a target of 206, England reached 6/133 when time ran out. Blackwell did not bowl in the match.

Blackwell played in all of New South Wales' 11 matches in the 2003–04 WNCL, scoring 183 runs at 26.14. In the fourth match of the season against South Australia, she made an unbeaten 70 in a vain attempt to secure victory in the run-chase as her state were bowled out and fell to a ten-run defeat. She was then run out twice for 26 and 23 in the two matches against reigning champions Victoria, as New South Wales tied one match and lost the next by four wickets. It was two of three instances in which Blackwell was run out during the season. New South Wales had a chance for redemption in the finals against Victoria. Blackwell made a duck—her third single-digit score in as many matches—in the first final, which the titleholders won by six wickets. In the next two matches, she was unbeaten on 13 and 16 and at the crease when the winning runs were brought up. New South Wales won the second final by five wickets and scraped home in the deciding match by three wickets to regain the WNCL title. Blackwell's sporadic bowling—26 overs in total—yielded one wicket at 118.00 at an economy rate of 4.37.