The famous Hill at Sydney Cricket Ground was a sea of pink. Spectators’ clothing, sponsors’ logos and even the stumps were adorned with pink to mark the first Jane McGrath Day on the third day of the final Test between SA and Australia recently.
“The Proteas wore pink bandanas and some of their bats had pink handles,” team spokesman Michael Owen-Smith said the following day.
Australian cricket’s bad boy, Shane Warne, pitched up in a shocking pink jacket and commentator Mark Nicholas wore a pink tie. Even some South African cricket fans watching the match on TV at home wore pink.
The pink campaign was intended as a reminder that thousands of women worldwide battle breast cancer and to commemorate one who lost her battle - Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath’s wife, Jane.
She had a mastectomy in 1997 but in 2003 cancer showed up in her hip. Later a brain tumour was discovered. Last June she became seriously ill and died of complications after an operation.
Throughout her illness she and Glenn, supported by the McGrath Foundation, campaigned passionately to raise awareness of the disease. Since her death Glenn has carried on the work on his own.
He says he was overwhelmed by emotion on the day honouring Jane’s legacy. “At one stage I couldn’t bear to watch the screen,” he says, recalling the fundraising dinner where video material of Jane was shown.
She would have been proud that a big cricket day had been named after her, he says. “At the same time she would have wondered what all the fuss was about.”
More than A$400 000 (about R2,7 million) was raised during the cricket Test from donations and the sale of pink wristbands and bandanas. The funds are used to pay for more specialist nurses to support women with breast cancer.
“There is too much cancer in Australia and the rest of the world,” Glenn says.
He never dreamt his British-born wife’s courageous battle would inspire the sports world in Australia and elsewhere. “To have everything transformed into pink with my wife as the inspiration is something we would never have thought possible.
“I would like Jane’s memory to be a celebration of her life.”
