As a young girl, she used to scrounge through the grass, collecting bottles left behind by the animated cricket and football fans at her local ground in Port Chalmers.
It was there that she stumbled upon a group of girls playing cricket for the first time, and by the time she was 6, Clough was in the thick of it helping with fielding practice.
Clough got the call to play for her local club aged 9 "of course I was nearly six foot by then" _ in the Dunedin second grade competition, where they played the men on Sundays.
"They used to send lollipops down to the 9-year-old that I'd bash for four," Clough said.
"Then they'd send one straight down and I'd be out. For two years I only made four each innings."
It was the beginning of what became an illustrious career that Clough looks back on fondly, representing her club, Otago and Auckland, and playing one game for the White Ferns.
Her father was a fisherman, leading the Clough clan to settle in Port Chalmers. Clough still lives close by in Sawyers Bay.
She loved cricket the moment she found the game, even if her family were not fond of the sport.
"The family was horrified I played cricket because none of them did," she said, laughing.
The seam bowler considered herself lucky at Port Chalmers Primary School to have a couple of Otago cricketers as teachers, including Alex Moir, who went on to play for New Zealand.
They inspired Clough to take cricket seriously, and she spent countless hours reading books by English fast bowlers to teach herself how to bowl leg and off cutters.
While at Otago Girls' High School, Clough left her club in Port Chalmers and joined YWCA to play first division cricket when she turned 14.
She came steaming in so hard that wicketkeeper Nola Buchannan started wearing a softball catcher's mask to protect herself when Clough came charging to the crease.
"I think she must have been the first one to wear a face mask."
Two years later, Clough was selected for Otago. She used to catch the train from Port Chalmers to Dunedin and run to Bathgate Park just to make it to practice.
"I was 16 when I got in the Otago squad, but they found out how old I was and they wouldn't take me away."
"They had to because I was the top bowler in Otago for that season."
Clough debuted for Otago during the 1955-56 season, taking a wicket in the first few overs on debut, and she recalled breaking one of the bails.
"I found out in later years it was a New Zealand opening batsman.”
She played for Otago until she was in her 30s and had a three-year stint with Auckland in the late 1950s. Clough and a friend had planned a "working holiday" making their way down the North Island, but they never made it past Auckland, she said, laughing.
While she enjoyed her stint in Auckland, her fondest memories remained at home with Otago.
She was part of the Otago team who won their first Hallyburton Johnstone Shield in 1962-63 in front of one of the biggest crowds she witnessed at the Kensington Oval.
"It was marvellous. I only got two or three wickets then, but everyone chipped in and got a wicket and our opening batsman scored centuries.
"There was a men's game on at Carisbrook and they were getting slaughtered, so the people were leaving.
"But they were driving past the girls and stopped and watched us. It was the biggest audience we ever had.”
Watching the Otago Sparks win the title 51 years later in 2013-14 season was spectacular, she said.
"I almost cried.”
Clough remembered heading to Australia with Otago during the 1967-68 season and playing against England in their warm-up game for a series against New Zealand.
She became White Fern No 54 when she played her only test, against England at the Basin Reserve, which ended in a draw.
"I'm not a great fan of that game. They couldn't hold my catches."
Playing for Otago gave her an immense amount of pride and some of her favourite memories.
Clough, a medium-pacer who says she got up to 128kmh at one stage, stuck to bowling throughout her career and "struggled" through the batting in the lower order.
"I got one century in club cricket.
"I was heading towards another in interprovincial cricket when I snicked the ball to the wicketkeeper at 75. It was quite a bit of disappointment"
Eventually, Clough retired in the 1970s, "they gave me a 21st present after 21 years of playing”, and still helped out a little afterwards.
What kept her around so long?
"I think I enjoyed it, I must've," she laughed.
"There was nothing else to do."
Women's cricket used to flourish in Dunedin at a club level with six teams in division one, and eight in division two, before it fell away.
"They disappeared when TV started and also when people got cars, because then they could go into town to play sport.
"There used to be, at Port Chalmers, a marching team, a softball team and a cricket team _ tennis as well _ in the girls, that is, and now there's nothing."
After retiring, Clough took up golf and became club captain of the weekend ladies at Chisholm Park and sported an 11 handicap at one stage.
She also became more invested in badminton, which she played throughout her cricketing career to keep fit and played for 20 years.
"It was similar to cricket.
"In the bowling, you've got to out-think the batsman, and in badminton, you've got to out think the opponent."
But she was never far from the cricket field.
Clough bought a campervan and used to travel around Invercargill, Alexandra, and Lincoln to watch Otago and even made special trips to Wellington to watch the White Ferns live.
Cricket has evolved a lot since Clough's playing days.
Women used to play two-day games at an interprovincial level, and at an international level, they played tests and there was no such format as T20.
She would love to see a longer format return to the women's game, but acknowledged they would have to adapt how they played.
She loved seeing Otago players, such as Suzie Bates and Katey Martin, go on to represent New Zealand for long spells and relished seeing the White Ferns win the T20 World Cup last year.
The women's game had made big strides in recent decades, but there was still more that could be done, she said.
"I tell you what, I think that the fielding has improved tremendously.
"The girls are taking catches and flying the ball in from the boundary. That has improved out of sight.
"But I'm disappointed at the bowlers. They bowl too short because they're looking for catches in the outfield, but the major attack, I reckon, should be at the stumps."
Women were awarded more opportunities in the sport now, too.
"They get paid, that's the main thing.
"I got a blazer, two pairs of shorts, two pairs of shirts and my fare to Wellington [when she played for New Zealand] and I had to pay everything else.
"I had to supply all my own gear, gloves, boots, bats and pads."
While Clough might not be out in her campervan anymore, she is still glued to her television and radio, supporting Otago, the White Ferns and the Black Caps whenever she can.
The Otago Sparks made a special trip to her Sawyers Bay home recently and spent the day cleaning up her garden.
A nice touch for a woman who paved the way for where the Otago Sparks are today.
kayla.hodge@odt.co.nz
