Interesting facts about Women's Cricket and Women's World Cup

Whenever we hear the word “Cricket”, we have an inherent tendency to relate it to men. More often than not, we tend to forget the women of the sport. What we fail to realise is that we have no idea of what we’re missing out on but being ignorant about the female counterparts’ game. It’s about time that women’s cricket got the attention it deserves and for the right reasons, too.

The ICC Women’s World Cup is set to get underway at the home of the defending champions: United Kingdom (UK) from the 24th of June. It’s going to be a thriller of a championship, with the 8 top ranked ICC teams, namely, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies going head to head against each other to claim the coveted title of being “World Champions”.

History of Women’s Cricket

The history of women’s cricket can be traced back to a report in the newspaper The Reading Mercury on 26 July 1745 and a match that took place between the villages of Bramley and Hambledon near Guildford in Surrey.

First Women’s World Cup

The first Women’s World Cup was held in England in the year 1973 which was won by the hosts England in a one-sided final against Australia. Interestingly enough, this tournament happened two years before the initiation of the first men’s World Cup.

“The initial years were marked by financial difficulties for the tournament to run on a regular four-year basis. Because of the lack of funding, many teams could not participate. However, the tournament has been held every four years since 2005 World Cup.”

First to score 200 in an ODI isn’t Sachin Tendulkar!

If you just read the line above and scoffed at it, think again! It’s Australia’s Belinda Clark, and not Sachin Tendulkar, who first smashed a double ton in a One-Day International match. During the 1997 Women’s Cricket World Cup, Belinda scored 229 runs, while remaining unbeaten from 145 balls against Denmark at Sachin’s birthplace, Mumbai.

Australian women with the highest number of World Cups

Australia are by far, the most successful team in the women’s edition of the game, having won 7 titles out of the 10 that have been held. Even in this, they’re ahead of their male counterparts, who have won 5 world cups till date. Also, both these teams share the feat of having won three consecutive world champion titles.

Highs and the Lows

Once again, it’s the women’s team that holds the record for having scored a humongous score of 455 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. New Zealand women’s cricket team was the first one to score 400-plus runs in an ODI innings in the year 1997. It was in a match against Pakistan, where they achieved this feat, 9 years before it was achieved in men’s cricket. Skipper Maia Lewis scored her maiden century in that game.

This match is known to cricket lovers for two reasons. Firstly, the 450-run total, a record in itself, has not been reached by any men’s team till date. The highest score in men’s cricket is 444 achieved by England against Pakistan. Secondly, New Zealand won this match by a whopping margin of 408 runs, a tally yet to be beaten.

In World Cup tournaments, Australia holds the record for the highest score in the tournament’s history with 412/3 against Denmark in 1997. In a diametrically opposite strain, Pakistan holds the lowest score of 27 runs against the powerful Australia in the same edition of the trophy quest.

Individual milestones

• New Zealand’s Debbie Hockley has scored a staggering total of 1,501 runs in the World Cup matches she played between 1982-2000.
• Australia’s Lyn Fullston has hauled a maximum of 39 wickets in a six-year period, between 1982-88.
• Pakistan’s Khursheed Jabeen wrote history when she picked up three wickets for 2 runs in her 10-over spell, against Japan women in 2003, at an economy rate of 0.20 and an average of 0.66.
• Many talk about Alan Davidson being the first cricketer to have picked up 10 wickets and scored a ton in the same match. However, Australia’s Betty Wilson was again first to the spot. In 1958, she became the first cricketer to achieve the feat. She scored a century and also picked up 11-wickets for just 16 runs. Davidson achieved the feat only two years later, in 1960.

Youngest captain of the game

In 2001, England’s Arran Brindle, aka Arran Thompson, was handed captaincy of their national women’s cricket team while she was just 19-years and 260-days old. She led her team to a massive 238-run win over Scotland in her debut match as a captain. Bangladesh’s Rajin Saleh became the youngest captain in men’s ODI when he was handed the captaincy before he turned 21.

Indians ladies at the Women’s World Cup

India has hosted three editions of the Women’s World Cup. They made their debut in the tournament in 1978, which they also hosted. However, they’ve not been able to don the World Champion’s cap, as of yet. Although India reached the final in 2005 tournament for the first time, they failed to win the trophy after losing to Australia.

Mithali Raj, the current Indian skipper, holds the record for being the youngest every player to hit a century. In less than two years after Shahid Afridi became the youngest player to score a century in ODIs at the age of 16 years and 217 days, she scored her maiden hundred in June 1999. Mithali was 16 years 205 days at the time. Currently, Mithali holds the 2nd position in the ICC Batting Rankings.