Stars bowler Sophie Day has overcome hearing loss to return to form in the WBBL

It was not long after Sophie Day’s maiden Women’s Big Bash season. Having grown up in Melbourne’s northeastern suburbs, Day had played hockey as a kid, only taking up cricket at 16 on account of a family rule that anyone living at home had to play a team sport.

She’d started in a father-daughter side at Warrandyte playing with her dad Cam, a club stalwart before moving to Premier club Plenty Valley. Initially she’d bowl mediums.

“But at Plenty Valley we didn’t have a spinner in the 1s. And I got asked, ‘Would you like to try bowling spin?’ I just kept working on it,” Day says.

She began to take the game more seriously, heading to the UK to play for Berkshire in 2019 where she played more than 35 games, a priceless experience. As her slow left-armers progressed, Day was soon on the fringes of the Victorian side, getting a look-in during a warm-up match for the T20 World Cup in 2020 against Sri Lanka.

“I ran drinks a lot for the Vic girls,” she says.

Then came that first season for the Stars, where she took 11 wickets at 21 and played in the final loss to Sydney Thunder.

She had just turned 22, and things were looking very bright.

Then, the ring began in her right ear.

“I was actually out playing. It started to ring,” she says.

“I went to the doctor that night because I was starting to get dizzy.

“The next day I woke up and I struggled to stand up.”

It turned out a middle ear infection had turned very nasty. Day had permanently lost hearing in one ear.

It’s a hard pill to stomach at any age, not least in your early 20s when your balance and quick reflexes are essential to your job. Day deals with her disability with positivity, but it has taken plenty of adjustment.

“I’ve got a ring that’s always there,” Day says.

“It’s kind of like someone’s annoying you or nagging you constantly in your ear. I found it hard to control emotions early on in terms of that. Dealing with when things don’t go well, and you’ve got the ring in your ear on top of it. Managing that was probably the biggest thing.

“After games if it hasn’t gone your way it’s quite hard to settle or get it out of your head, or go to sleep I always found.

“Sleeping is when everything’s quite quiet, so the ringing is quite prominent.

“It’s learning to put my focus into something else.

“If I lay on the side with my hearing then I can’t hear at all, because it’s on the pillow. So you get a little bit nervous … you just feel a little bit more vulnerable. Just getting used to little things like that. Your body is pretty amazing in how it can readapt.

“You learn a new way of going about things.”

The alterations are subtle, yet significant, the types of things you wouldn’t consider unless you went through a life-changing episode like this.

“Understanding where sounds come from. If someone speaks on the right side, I hear it in my left, so I turn to my left.

“In the indoor nets I was a bit jumpy at the start, because you’re not sure where sounds are coming from. When there’s balls flying around it’s hard to get used to that.

“When I go on walks with the girls I always position myself on a certain side so I can hear everybody. Little things like that. Where you sit on the dinner table.

“It really affected my balance. There was a period of time where I struggled even walking.”

Day struggled through last season’s WBBL, taking just four wickets as the Stars slipped down the table. But her touch has returned this season, with seven wickets in eight matches for the Stars after an early season five-for for Victoria against Tasmania.

“I probably pushed back to get into the side probably earlier than I should have,” Day says.

“In a weird way it‘s one of the best things to have happened, because I’ve learned so much about myself and my game.”

Day says she is fortunate to have had plenty of support. She nominates Stars batting coach Dulip Samaraweera, Victorian spin whisperer Craig Howard, Prahran coach and ex-Test opener Julien Wiener and former Stars assistant and two-Test left-arm spinner Michael Beer as those who have provided mentorship. And a couple of all-time greats in Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry as state teammates doesn’t go astray either.

“In Victoria we’ve got Meg and Pez both playing here. So I’ve got to train alongside them, and that’s one thing that’s really helped me, being able to train alongside them, seeing how they go about things but also challenge myself against them in the nets, even if some days you do get absolutely smacked. Without them even knowing they’ve really fast-traced and developed my game,” Day says.

Day also has a terrific outlet away from the game. An accomplished painter, she has an exhibition coming up in Melbourne next month, having previously displayed her work at Cricket Victoria’s St Kilda headquarters.

“It’s a really nice balance that you can switch off and go paint.”

After three years, this weekend marks the return of the WBBL to Melbourne. When the Stars last played at the Junction, Day was just a net bowler. This time she will be front and centre, with plenty of familiar faces to look at.

“My family might make up half the crowd. It’s really nice. I think they’ll be in all the kit. I think my dad likes my uniform more than anyone.”

But there mightn’t be much more need for those father-daughter teams. Day proudly notes that Warrandyte now has three girls teams.