5 Unbreakable records set by female cricketers

In the gentleman’s game, many records are made and broken within a short period of time. Meanwhile, there were some that stand till date. It is well known that competition in men’s cricket is always quite high when they take on the field. Sometimes individual performances also help a team in winning the match. And, while playing for the country, players knowingly or unknowingly touch a milestone that helps them in entering their name into the record books.

The same goes for female players, who possess the ability to achieve any kind of milestone in international cricket. However, everyone would be well aware of the fact that female cricket is still in the growing age whereas male cricket has already reached its peak.

Ardent followers of the gentleman’s game will be shocked to know that there are many female cricketers, with some records under their belt, which are simply impossible for a male player to break.

Here are such five unbreakable records:

1. Youngest player to score a century

In international cricket, earlier the record for the youngest player to score a century was held by none other than former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi. He managed to achieve that milestone at the age of 16 years and 217 days against Sri Lanka.

In that game, he scored  102 runs against Sri Lanka and helped his national side in winning the match by a margin of 82 runs. Later on, Mithali Raj broke that record by scoring a ton when she was just 16 years and 205 days.

Right-handed Raj played a match-winning knock of 114 runs against Ireland in 1999. It’s been more than two decades but still, no cricketer (male or female) has managed to go past that record.

2. Youngest to score a double century

Scoring a ton in international cricket is itself a difficult task for any batsman irrespective of gender. Once, scoring a double in ODIs also looked like an impossible thing to achieve before Sachin Tendulkar set the ball rolling by smashing a double ton against South Africa in 2010. Afterwards many batsmen like Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma and Martin Guptill followed the footsteps of Tendulkar.

Then came Kiwi Women batter Amelia Kerr in 2018. She played a swashbuckling knock of 232 runs off 145 balls studded with 31 boundaries and two sixes against Denmark.

She was just 17 year 243 days old at that time and became the youngest player on the planet to score a double century in the limited-overs format. And, one thing is confirmed that this record will not be an easy task for any player to break anytime soon.

3. Oldest ODI player 

Cricket is quite a competitive game in which player has to keep themselves fit enough to play at international level. Each player has to remain on his toes and match the increasing level of competitiveness in cricket. It looks like an easy task for an outsider but is not. Many players also fail to cope up with the pressure and pace of the game, which indirectly leads to their retirement.

In ODI format, the oldest ever player to appear in an ODI is Nolan Clarke at the age of 47 years and 257 days. But, West Indies veteran player Stephanie Power has broken that record long ago. She is an active ODI player and currently, she is 63 years and 43 days.

The veteran is yet to announce her retirement in international cricket. Interestingly, there is no male cricketer of her age actively playing in the limited-overs format.

4. The highest percentage of runs in an innings

In gentlemen’s game, batsmen always hold an important role in scoring runs for their side in the matches. And, every batter is expected to share a fair proportion of runs in the team’s total on the back of his/her batting.

In female cricket, Enid Blackwell holds the record for scoring highest proportion of runs in a Test match inning, including men’s cricket as well. She scored 112* out of England’s 164/10 in 2nd innings.

Blackwell scored 68.29 per cent runs of team’s runs in the innings. It is the highest proportion of team’s runs scored by a player in a Test inning. Meanwhile, in Men’s cricket, the record is 67.34 per cent, held by Charles Bannerman in the first-ever Test match (1877).

5. Consecutive T20Is with at least one wicket

Radha Yadav, the slow left-arm orthodox bowler of Indian Women Cricket team has achieved a unique record in the T20 format. She has consistently taken at least one wicket in her last 24 games.

Moreover, her wicket-taking streak is still active and it will be interesting to watch until what period she can continue with the same. Earlier, this record was held by Megan Schutt (23 matches).

Coming to men’s cricket, the longest wicket-taking spree record was held by Lasith Malinga and Ish Sodhi that came to an end after 16 games. However, fans can easily differentiate that the India Women spinner is way too ahead from any player in international cricket.