[1] Sthalekar made her debut in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) late in 1997–98 as a specialist bowler, but had little success, totalling 1/120 in her maiden campaign.

Playing as a bowler, she made her One Day International (ODI) debut against England and ended the tour of the British Isles with five wickets from as many matches.

She totalled 347 runs, more than her four previous seasons combined, and took 11 wickets as New South Wales won their sixth consecutive WNCL with a clean sweep.

Sthalekar played in each match of Australia's unbeaten 2005 World Cup triumph in South Africa, taking seven wickets in all, and scoring 55 against India in the final.

[2] She started the following summer with unbeaten scores of 73 and 104 against India, before taking 4/20 in the next match to help set up a clean sweep of the ODI series.

[8] All of these came in a period of six matches from the end of October to the start of December and included consecutive three-wicket hauls against Queensland and Victoria.

[8] The Australians returned home and Sthalekar was part of the New South Wales team that won their sixth consecutive WNCL title in 2001–02, this time with a clean sweep of all ten matches.

She later took 2/14 from ten overs to help restrict Victoria to 8/116, handing New South Wales a six-wicket win in their closest match of the season.

She was not successful as Australia then collapsed to be all out for 78; Sthalekar made six from 14 balls and occupied the crease for 13 minutes before being trapped lbw by Lucy Pearson in her maiden Test innings.

Sthalekar again opened and this time made a duck, batting for 20 balls and 26 minutes without scoring, but Australia managed to reach 5/139 to seal victory.

[8][11] Sthalekar was retained for the Second Test at Bankstown Oval in her home town Sydney, but after her failure as an opener in the preceding match, she returned to her conventional position in the middle-order.

In the restructuring in the batting line-up, Kris Britt was called in to make her Test debut as an opener alongside Clark, and middle-order batsman Michelle Goszko was omitted to accommodate Sthalekar.

[8][12] After a personally and collectively disappointing WNCL in 2002–03, Sthalekar and New South Wales started the new season strongly in the double-header against Western Australia.

She took four wickets in these matches and the season was adjourned for a seven-match ODI tour of her native country India, where the Australians were met by dry spin-friendly surfaces.

The tourists travelled to Mumbai in Sthalekar's home state of Maharashtra, but it was not a successful visit on the field; she was run out for 2 and her 1/19 was not enough to prevent a six-wicket defeat.

New South Wales met Victoria in the finals and Sthalekar was not successful in the three matches, scoring 16, 4 and 5 taking only two wickets in total as the defending champions lost their title 2–1.

The final pool match against India was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to inclement weather, and Australia met England in the semi-finals.

She bowled Claire Taylor for 41 before returning late in the innings to remove middle-order batsmen Arran Brindle and Rosalie Birch as England lost their last six wickets for 39 runs.

She made 40 from 122 balls and put on a stand of 115 with Rolton before being removed by Katherine Brunt, starting a steady flow of wickets as Australia were all out for 223 to leave the hosts a target of 306.

[13] Sthalekar took 3/44 from 30 overs, including 16 maidens, removing captain Connor, Jenny Gunn and Beth Morgan as the hosts hung on for a draw with three wickets in hand.

In the deciding match, Sthalekar made 39 of 146 all out and took 2/20 from ten overs as New South Wales hung on by two runs to take the WNCL title.

[8] The following 2006–07 season started with the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand, which the Australians hosted at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.

In the first match, Sthalekar made 65 as Australia amassed 9/260 but her bowling was attacked by New Zealand, who took 41 runs without loss from her four overs en route to a six-wicket win.

[8] This trend continued in the Rose Bowl series held in tropical Darwin in July 2007, the middle of the southern hemisphere winter.

As a result of the effectiveness of the first three batsmen in the order, Sthalekar only had to bat six times in these eight matches, and was twice unbeaten on single-figure scores when the target was reached.

Sthalekar made 28 but was then attacked by the local batsmen, conceding 23 runs from two overs as England overhauled Australia's score of 5/163 to reach the final, which they won.

She then took three wickets in the two matches against the Australian Capital Territory, scoring 48 and taking 2/27 from ten overs in an upset four-wicket defeat to the new team in their debut season.

[8] New South Wales won eight of their ten round-robin matches and proceeded to the final against Victoria, Sthalekar scored 49 as the defending champions made 9/206.

She took 1/20 from her four overs, dismissing Shanel Daley as Australia won by nine runs to finish the group stage unbeaten at the top of their quartet.

[27] Devine required five runs from the last ball to win and she struck a powerful straight drive from the bowling of Ellyse Perry, who stuck out her right foot.