Best Female Cricketers : The words women and cricket have come together in a single sentence for not longer than a few years. Many who were concerned regarding the well-being of women had pondered upon how the women-folk would manage to play such a tough game. But the players of the sport have proved that women are never behind men in anything, whether it be the toughest and most physically demanding sport in the world.
Here is the list of top 10 Best Female Cricketers right now:
#10 Anisa Mohammed (West Indies)
The 24-year-old, Anisa Mohammed seized the game of female cricket when she was just 14 and played her first match at the age of 15. She is an off-spinner, who has a best 5/20 against Grenada. Recently, her five-wicket tug against Sri Lanka helped the West Indies Women team complete a relaxed victory over Sri Lanka Women in the first ODI at Bridgetown in April 2012.
#9 Shashikala Siriwardene (Sri Lanka)
Shashikala Siriwardene is the captain of the Sri Lankan Team, who made her ODI debut against West Indies in March 2003. She grabbed a 2-20 and scored a swift 29 in the same match. The most stunning bowling factual figures of this female cricket player 4-11 was in 2005-06 against Pakistan in the Women’s Asia Cup that took place in Karachi. The other achievements include her 4-34 also against Pakistan in Women’s Asia Cup in the year 2006-07.
#8 Meghann Moira Lanning (Australia)
Being born in Singapore, Meghann debuted in an ODI in January 2011 against England. She is a splendid batsman from Australian. She has played 11 matches and has scored 407 runs, her top score being 128 against India in March 2012. With stunning blows and brilliant gaming, this teenager definitely earned a place in this list of top female cricket players.
#7 Mithali Raj (India)
Being an ODI and Test cricketer, Mithali Raj is the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team. She made her ODI debut in 1999 at Milton Keynes against Ireland with an unbeaten 114 runs. Raj received fame for scoring 214 runs in a Test match against England at Taunton, a record-breaker for highest women’s score in cricket.
#6 Stefanie Roxann Taylor (West Indies)
Stefanie Taylor debuted at the age of 17 for West Indies on a tour of Europe. Known for her vigorousness in the field in her first match, against Ireland, she grabbed two catches although she made only 14 in the run-chase. Later, Taylor even made an outstanding Twenty20 debut against the same opponents, hitting 90 off 49 balls in West Indies, giving 75-run wins to her team. He has now become the first woman to be selected for the ICC Cricketer of the Year award after being combined in the 2012 ICC’s top honor list.
#5 Lisa Carprini Sthalekar (Australia)
Born in Pune, India, Lisa is the captain of New South Wales team and plays for Australia. One of the important players in the team, she is rated as the leading all-rounder in the world when rankings were announced. She became the first female cricket player to take 100 wickets and earn a 1,000 runs in ODIs. Sthalekar has also been rewarded as the Australian International Women Cricketer of the year both in 2007 and 2008.
#4 Katherine Helen Brunt (England)
Being an English female cricket player, Katherine Helen Brunt is called as England women’s Cricketer of the Year both in 2006 and 2010. She was announced as Woman of the Match in the 2009 Twenty20 World championship final at Lords when she scored 3/6 in her 4 over opening spell followed by a career-best 6/69 in the one of Ashes test. Brunt’s best scores in ODIs came in the final of the NatWest Quadrangular Series of 2011 where her excellent 5/18 bowled England to victory over Australia.
#3 Jhulan Goswami (India)
An essential player in the Indian cricket team, Jhulan Goswami is known for both her batting as well as bowling abilities. During the 2006-07 period, she focused her team to their first test series win in England. She has even received the ICC Women’s Player of the Year 2007 tailed by the M.A Chidambaram trophy for Best Women Cricketer in 2011.
#2 Sarah Jane Taylor (England)
Sarah is a known wicketkeeper-batsman, best known for her free-flowing stroke play. She was part of the England team in 2008 which reserved the Ashes in Australia, the same year she broke the record for the highest stand in women’s ODI cricket with her first wicket partnership of 268 with Caroline Atkins at Lord’s against South Africa with a score of 129. In 2009, she scored 120 against Australia in the 2nd ODI at Chelmsford, thus scoring the chief individual score against Australia by an English woman. She is also the freshest female cricket player to bag 1000 runs in One Day Internationals.
#1 Ellyse Alexandra Perry (Australia)
The number one position has been captivated by Ellyse Perry for a distinct reason. The sports star at the age of 16, made her International debut for both the Australian cricket and football teams in a simultaneous year. She played her first international cricket in July 2007 before getting her first football cap for Australia. She is, as a matter of fact, the first Australian woman to have played in both cricket and football World Cups. An all-rounder by performance, she was given the man of the match title in the 2010 World Twenty20 finals against New Zealand after having taken 3/18 in which the Australians defeated New Zealand by three runs. Currently, she is dominating the game with her exceptional playing.
These women have set the standards rather high and they have shown us that anything in this world can be done by women also and that in itself shows that these women are sure to have a place in the history of the sports world with their performances. They are sure to become the inspiration for the coming generation women who will commit themselves to the future of this sport.
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