Editor’s Note: I used to write often for CaribbeanCricket.com. In 2007, I had done this interview and submitted it, but regrettably, it was not published. Having just attended the 3rd Test match between West Indies and England in Grenada from 24th – 27th March 2022, and being only one of two females in the media centre, I thought I would resurrect the article and post it here. I am happy to see that Chloe is still in the business. She’s currently the Sports Editor at The Age in Australia.
Chloe, I hope you enjoy this interview, from the archives.
A woman in the press box at a cricket match in the West Indies is a rare sight, so during this Cricket World Cup 2007, I am scouring all venues in search of other women journalists. The first encounter was with Chloe Saltau in St Kitts who writes for the The Age newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. She went the traditional journalism route, gaining a BA from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology before starting her first job at The Age.
In Antigua, during the lengthy rain delay for the West Indies vs Australia match, I sat down with one of the few female cricket reporters on this tour. And yes, she has heard of Caribbean.Cricket.com.
MM: When you first started The Age as a trainee in 1998, did you have aspirations to become a cricket reporter?
CS: I had very vague aspirations to become a cricket reporter but most of all, I knew that I wanted to write in sports and I had always been fascinated by cricket in the Caribbean as well. I actually came here on a holiday in 1999 when the Australian team played here before I was working in cricket, so that sort of gave me a taste of being on a tour, which I really enjoyed. Yeah, I knew that cricket was probably always my favourite sport so I knew that I wanted to end up doing that.
How did that come about, you becoming a cricket reporter?
I worked in our News section for quite a few years, as a Social Policy reporter among other things, and eventually went back to Sports, and wrote a lot about Australian Rules Football which you have to do if you write Sport in Melbourne because it’s huge. It’s number 1, the all consuming sport, but I started to get into writing a bit about the Bushrangers – the Victorian cricket team – and eventually there became a few opportunities to tour, so I started doing that, so that’s how it happened.
My first tour was the second half of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, so been doing it for four years now.
Did you play cricket at school?
Not at school, but I played for a local club between the ages of about 13 and 26 or 27. I wasn’t particularly good but I really liked it and I found that you can’t really combine cricket and cricket writing, because it’s too full on.
How well do you know the game?
Having played it a little bit, I feel that I have a reasonable feel for the game but at the same time I may not pick up things about it that other people might pick up, but I have grown up watching it, I have grown up playing it and grown up loving it, so I feel I know it reasonably well, but you’re always learning and picking up new things.
Do you normally do match reports?
Yes
Are you doing match reports on the match today?
I will be doing match reports for our website but because of the time differences, this game on a Tuesday, won’t be in the paper until Thursday so it’s quite difficult. We need to throw forward to the next game. There is not a whole lot of match reporting that appears in the paper from a tour in the West Indies . It’s difficult.
What was your experience like covering your first international game?
The first international game I covered was when Matthew Hayden made his 380, it was a world record at the time, in Perth, so it was amazing. It was really frenetic because I was the only one there from our paper and it was a big story. I loved it. I loved that adrenaline of covering a game when something exciting was happening. That’s my main memory of that game. It was a Test match against Zimbabwe.
That was the first Test match, but I probably covered One Day Internationals at home before the World Cup.
Generally, what has been the reception towards you as a woman in the press box? If you look around, there are probably four or five of us.
It’s been absolutely fine. I don’t think it has ever even been remotely an issue. It’s not something I even think about and I’m not sure about whether anyone thinks about it. Probably for me, the issue coming into cricket writing was being inexperienced. It wasn’t being a woman; it was being new to it. I’ve felt very welcomed by people.
You don’t get any feeling that the cricketers might respond to you differently than they would to a male reporter?
I don’t know, but again, I’ve never had a problem with the cricketers and really, the relationships between the players and the media nowadays are so moderated by Media Managers that perhaps it’s easier now to be a woman in this job than it probably was 10 or 15 years ago. In fact I am sure it is but again, it’s just not something that I think about. Do you?
Sometimes. I have actually had an experience where I felt that if I were a man and I were say Tony Cozier, the cricketer wouldn’t have done what he did. I’ve stopped thinking about it though. Are you a cricket reporter or sports reporter?
Well both really, but predominantly cricket reporter.
What’s the best part of that job?
Just the privilege of being able to go to places like this and cover a sport that I love, and being paid for it. It’s not easy; it can be grueling too, but there are a lot of people who would love to be able to do that.
Your friends probably envy you!
Yes.
The opposite side of that…what do you wish you could change about your job as a cricket reporter?
I’d like to not be away from home quite so much, but that’s the nature of cricket now isn’t it. It’s a 12 months of the year job.
What has been your most memorable experience so far as a cricket reporter?
I think covering the 2005 Ashes which was a remarkable tour for so many reasons, but the interest in it was something I had never experienced before. For 3 ½ months, there wasn’t a quiet day. It was exciting, it was fresh, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done but also probably the most rewarding.
What made it hard?
Just the relentlessness of it. The deadlines. Australia was getting beaten. There were issues and that made it exciting too. People were suddenly interested in Test cricket again. It was fantastic.
I just read that you were probably the second woman since Margaret Hughes to cover an Ashes series. How did you feel about that?
Well I didn’t really actually know until someone told me during that tour but again, it’s not something I really think about. It’s just a job.
Who has been your favourite cricketer to interview one-on-one?
Hmmmm. I don’t know. I don’t think I have a favourite.
What has been your most difficult interview?
I have to have a think about it.
While you’re thinking about that, during that 1999 tour, you saw Lara’s 153*.
I was here for Barbados and Antigua so yes, I saw that amazing Barbados Test match.
What did you think then? You were on holiday then so you weren’t in the press box. You were a spectator.
Yeah, exactly. It was probably more exciting for that reason. That was a really authentic Caribbean cricket watching experience. It was amazing. I loved it.
Do you feel that when you are in the press box, you have to tone down your enthusiasm?
Yes [laughs] but I’m not someone who jumps around behaving like an idiot.
So can you think back to anybody who you interviewed and you thought ‘that was a really good interview, I enjoyed that?’
Well Shaun Tait’s a really good interview because he is fresh and he just says what he thinks. He’s a real raw sort of person as well as a raw fast bowler and he’s quite honest and refreshing so I enjoy interviewing him.
So you prefer those who say it like it is rather than those who sugar coat it.
Exactly. Yes.
Anybody who you really had to work hard to get responses out of them?
Oh yes, of course, but I can’t think of a particular one at the moment.
Any plans to do a book?
Not at this stage.
What are your thoughts about how the World Cup has unfolded so far?
I think it’s gone really well. A lot of people had reservations about organization and logistics and that sort of thing, but so far there haven’t been too many problems. Obviously the World Cup has been overshadowed by Bob Woolmer’s death and everything that that raises.
But I think the people in the West Indies are genuinely into it, although I’m surprised there aren’t more people at the matches I must admit. I would have thought for the Australia vs West Indies game in Antigua, the stands would be full, so I’m surprised that they’re not.
Have you enquired as to why it might be so?
People talk about the ticket prices being quite expensive. I guess that’s it, but perhaps you could answer that better than me. But I think the Volunteers are really good at all the grounds. I’m having a really good time.
Do you think that because you came here before in 1999, and you experienced the Caribbean lifestyle, that your expectations were more realistic?
Realistic, exactly. The grounds then were more of a Caribbean experience then than it is now. The grounds are new and they’re great and facilities are fantastic, but it’s probably not the real Calypso experience that Australians might expect when they come to the Caribbean anymore.
When you were sitting in the airport in St Kitts on Monday and the flight was delayed and there was no announcement, that didn’t bother you?
Yes, it bothered me at the time of course, but I think if you’re on a long tour, you can’t afford to get too stressed about these things. You just have to roll with it a little bit.
Which is the island that you’ve been to that you like the most so far?
I’ve only been to St Kitts and Antigua so far, and Barbados a long time ago. I’ve only been in Antigua for a couple of days on this occasion but I really enjoyed St Kitts. I thought it was a really nice place. Small, but really pretty and lovely people. I really enjoyed it.
Predictions about today’s match?
Australia’s got 322. They’ll probably have to reduce the overs, but I think that’s a pretty good score and I think they’ll be ok.
You can say they’re going to win you know!
Yeah, they’re going to win, I think! [laughs]