Out of the ordinary: Amanda-Jade Wellington adjusts to a new ‘normal’
Out of the ordinary: Amanda-Jade Wellington adjusts to a new ‘normal’
Amanda-Jade Wellington was still getting used to a new “normal” when she did something extraordinary. You wouldn’t have guessed from her bubbly persona, but Wellington recently revealed that she has suffered throughout her life with SVT, supraventricular tachycardia, a condition which causes the heart to suddenly beat much faster than normal due to a fault in the electrical signals controlling the heartbeat.
Treatment usually involves an ablation, where a catheter is inserted into the heart via a vein, often in the groin, and heat or cold energy is used to create tiny scars in the heart to block the faulty signal and restore a normal heartbeat.
A new chapter in her cricket career
Barely three months after undergoing the procedure, Hampshire’s Australian leg-spinner took her maiden hat-trick as part of a five-wicket haul which helped her side to a comprehensive victory over Essex in the Vitality Blast on Sunday. Having signed with Hampshire in December, Wellington announced in March that she’d had the procedure and by early April was running in a chilly Southampton in preparation for the first match of the domestic One Day Cup.
She has 11 wickets from eight matches in that competition so far at 29.18 and an economy rate of 4.19. In the T20 Blast, she doubled her wicket tally in that one match at Chelmsford to 10. After Hampshire’s eight-wicket victory over Lancashire Thunder in Blackpool on Tuesday – their third win from six games – she now has 11 at 16.00 and 7.33.
Learning to live with a regular heartbeat
All the while she has been learning what it’s like to have a regular heartbeat. “I feel fantastic,” Wellington says. “I’m in a really good place. I’ve been able to feel my heart completely different now. It’s weird. I can feel it beating normally, which is definitely not normal for me.
“The first couple of days coming out of the hospital, I would have to sit down and acknowledge it because my heart was beating weird and I was like, ‘This is actually normal.’ It feels so different to what it used to.”
A challenging journey
The time leading up to the surgery was particularly difficult for Wellington, who says she had to have some difficult conversations with her partner, Humraj. “It is quite scary going into surgery, I’ve never been under (anaesthetic) as well, so the feeling of going in, having heart surgery, is quite scary and you just never know,” she says.
Wellington also credits her South Australia team-mates and support staff with helping her prepare for the procedure. “I got the news from the doctor about getting surgery and I rocked up to training the next day and I broke down in tears and all the girls hugged me,” she says.
A new chapter with Hampshire
At Hampshire, Wellington says she has found similar warmth towards her as a player, personality and prolific social media presence. “Hampshire have been absolutely amazing,” she says. “Coming into a new environment, you’re very nervous and very on the down-low at first. But as soon as I joined the Hampshire girls, the girls accepted me for who I am.
“I did say to them in the first team meeting: ‘I’m quite weird. I’m quite out there. I have my camera around. That is me, that’s who I am.’ And they accepted me from day one, which was awesome. The girls have welcomed me with open arms.”
Future plans
With the T20 World Cup about to start, Wellington will turn one eye to the action starting in Birmingham on Friday when England play Sri Lanka (Hampshire also play Yorkshire that day) ahead of doing some commentary work during the tournament. Wellington hasn’t played for Australia since the 2022 World Cup, the last of her 14 ODIs.
Instead of international honours, Wellington is content to focus on leagues and domestic competitions around the world, squeezing everything she can from her career, having just turned 29. “Play for as long as possible, that’s my goal,” she says. “I want to be able to bowl these ripping leggies until I’m like 38, 40-odd. I enjoy cricket so much and it’s a passion of mine and it’s my life and I love it.
“Even after cricket, I’ve thought about being in cricket as well. I want to go into media, I want to go into commentary, I want to go into spin coaching. I don’t ever see myself walking away from the game.”
