5 Achievements at international level which were first recorded in Women’s cricket

Men’s Cricket is always a notch above the Women’s cricket in various aspects but when it comes to records, the later did give a good tussle. Some of the major milestones were first breached in Women’s cricket with few of them decades before Men could get there. Women played the first-ever World Cup in the history of Cricket, two years before the first World event in Men’s cricket. The modern form of Cricket, T20Is, was first played by the Women, six months before the format made its debut in Men’s Cricket.

Here are the five major achievements which were recorded in the Women’s cricket before the Men:

5. Double century in ODI cricket

One of the well-known facts with respect to Women’s cricket is the first-ever double century in One-Day Internationals was recorded by Australia Women’s captain Belinda Clark. Opening the batting against Denmark during the 1997 Women’s CWC, Belinda smashed an unbeaten 229 from only 155 balls with help of 22 fours.

Her knock helped Australia finish with 412/3 and win the game by a huge margin of 363 runs. It stood as the lone double ton in the ODI format until Sachin Tendulkar struck 200* against South Africa in 2014. Belinda’s 229* was surpassed after 17 years when Rohit Sharma amassed 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014.

A year later, Chris Gayle recorded his maiden ODI double century during the 2015 World Cup against Zimbabwe. It was the first double hundred during a Men’s ODI World Cup match.

4. 5-wicket hauls in ODI and T20I formats

Men’s ODI cricket had to wait for a while to witness the first 5-wicket haul but Women’s cricket recorded a 5-fer on the very first day of the format. The Women’s World Cup in 1973 kick-started the Women’s ODI cricket as well. The match between Jamaica and New Zealand was slated to be the Women’s ODI No.1 but the game got washed out without a toss. However, the 2nd game played on the same day between Young England and Australia went down into record books as the 1st Women’s ODI.

Australia’s Tina Macpherson took 5/14 in the 12 overs she bowled as Young England team were bowled out for only 57. During the 4th match on the same day, Glenys Page registered bowling figures of 6/20 for New Zealand against the Trinidad & Tobago Women. The first 5-wicket haul in a Men’s ODI match was recorded by Dennis Lillee of Australia with 5/34 against Pakistan on the opening day of the 1975 World Cup. The first-ever 5-wicket haul in the T20I format also came in Women’s cricket only.

New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite recorded figures of 6/17 against England Women during the 2007 Taunton T20I. At the same venue in 2009, India’s Priyanka Roy took 5/16 against Pakistan to claim the first 5-fer in the history of T20 World Cup. Two hours later, Umar Gul bagged five wickets in only three overs he bowled in the game against New Zealand at The Oval. It turned out to be the first T20I 5-fer in Men’s cricket and also the first 5-wicket haul in the Men’s T20 CWC.

3. First-ever 400+ total in ODI cricket

It took more than 2300 ODIs in Men’s cricket to record the first-ever 400+ team total (Australia’s 434/4) while the second came in less than 5 hours (South Africa’s 438/9) after the first instance. A year before the 2006 Johannesburg ODI, New Zealand posted 397/5 against Zimbabwe in a 44-over affair where they fell one hit away from breaching the 400-run mark. However, the first-over ODI total of 400+ was recorded way back in 1997 during the Women’s ODI No.220.

New Zealand Women posted 455/5 against Pakistan Women at the Christchurch’s Hagley Oval though only their captain Maia Lewis (105 off 72 balls) scored a century. Debbie Hockley (88), Trudy Anderson (85) and Clare Nicholson (73) contribute to the huge total with the fifties. Pakistan, in reply, were bundled out for only 47 and lost the game by a mammoth 408 runs. Interestingly, Pakistan conceded 40 extra runs in New Zealand’s innings.

Later in the same year, Australia Women registered the first-ever 400+ total in a World Cup match when they posted 412/3 in their 50 overs during the game against Denmark. Belinda Clark’s famous double century played a key role in Australia’s big total. The first 400+ total in a Men’s ODI World Cup game was recorded by India in the 2007 edition when they put up 413/5 against Bermuda at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

2. Major milestones in T20I cricket

The frequency of T20I matches in Women’s cricket is close to Men’s cricket in comparison with Test and ODI matches. Thus, many individual milestones of the format were first achieved by Women. England Women’s Jenny Gunn became the first to feature in 100 Twenty20 International matches during the 2018 T20I Tri-Series hosted by India. Jenny was part of England’s XI during the first-ever T20I match in the history against Australia in 2004. Shoaib Malik was the first Men’s cricketer to be part of 100 T20Is.

However, even New Zealand Women’s player Suzie Bates got this milestone a week before Malik. Suzie also stands as the only player with 3000+ runs in T20I cricket. The most T20I runs in Men’s cricket till date is on the name of Virat Kohli who scored 2794 runs and is well behind the star player of the White Ferns team. Even the 2000-run mark in T20Is was first achieved by a Woman as Charlotte Edwards got there during the 2014 WT20, a day before Brendon McCullum completed his milestone.

During the last year’s T20I against New Zealand, Lasith Malinga completed 100 wickets in the format where he picked up wickets in four consecutive balls. Malinga then became the first player to complete 100 T20I wickets in Men’s cricket. However, two players achieved the feat in Women’s cricket before the Sri Lankan pacer. Anisa Mohammad of West Indies was the first player to 100 T20I scalpswhich she achieved in 2016 WT20 while Ellyse Perry became the second during the 2018 WT20 final.

1. A century and 10+ wickets in the same Test match

Scoring a century and picking up 10+ wickets by an individual is rarest of all-round achievement in Test history. This has been recorded by only three players in Men’s cricket and two in Women’s Tests. However, the first of the five players was Betty Wilson of Australia Women’s team way back in 1958. The Australian team hosted England Women in the 2nd game of the 4-match Test series at the Junction Oval. England elected to field first after the first day’s play got washed out.

Mary Duggan’s 7-wicket haul bundled out the hosts for just 38 with Betty Wilson (12) being the only batter to reach double digits. Wilson led the comeback of the Australian team with bowling figures of 7/7 as England Women were bowled out for only 35. Interestingly, Duggan scored exactly 12 runs and was the only player to get into double figures for her team. The 3rd day’s play was washed out as well but Australia Women declared their 2nd innings at 202/9 on the final day to set a target of 206 for England.

Wilson smashed 100 to rescue the Aussies from 30/4. The right-handed batter struck three fours during her 166-minute stay. Wilson later paired up with Ruth Dow to reduce England Women from 52/1 to 76/8. Betty and Ruth claimed 4-wicket hauls but the game ended in a draw. Betty bagged 11 wickets alongside the ton to complete a unique double. England’s Enid Blackwell replicated it during the 1979 Birmingham Test against West Indies. She took 10/75 and registered scores of 68 and 112* respectively.

The first-ever instance of a century and 10+ wickets in a Test match in Men’s cricket was achieved by Ian Botham for England in 1980 against India at the Wankhede Stadium. Botham took 13 wickets and scored 114 during England’s 10-wicket win. India was at the receiving end again as Imran Khan scored 117 and picked up 11 wickets in the 1983 Faisalabad Test. Shakib Al Hasan is the recent most player with this double with 10 wickets and 137-run knock during the 2014 Khulna Test against Zimbabwe.