Ever wondered who the best female cricket players in the world are?
Over the years, there has been a surge in the number of female cricket players. This is because cricket has been chiefly taken as a men’s sport.
However, over the recent years, it has seen a significant gain in the female players. Therefore, they have proved that they can play at the same level as men.
The female cricketers have shown their capability, skill sets, and charisma to perform brilliantly. Therefore, cricket is becoming popular among females.
Because of its rising popularity, most countries have their own national female cricket teams. Moreover, ICC Woman’s World Cup is hosted to evaluate their standard.
Hence, we bring you this list of the 12 best female cricket players in the world. So without further delay, let us check the list together.
12 Best Female Cricket Players in the World
Let us take a quick look at the table before diving into the details.
This list is prepared from various sources from the internet like Sports Browser.
| Player Name | Country |
| 1. Ellyse Perry | Australia |
| 2. Sarah Jane Taylor | England |
| 3. Belinda Clark | Australia |
| 4. Jhulan Goswami | India |
| 5. Cathryn Fitzpatrick | Australia |
| 6. Katherine Helen Brunt | England |
| 7. Mithali Raj | India |
| 8. Charlotte Edwards | England |
| 9. Stafanie Roxann Taylor | West Indies |
| 10. Lisa Sthalekar | Australia |
| 11. Meghann Lanning | Australia |
| 12. Shashikala Siriwardene | Srilanka |
1. Ellyse Perry
We will start our list of best female cricket players with Australian cricketer Ellyse Perry. 33 year-old Perry made her debut for both the national cricket team and national soccer team at 16 years old.
Perry is the youngest Australian to play international cricket. Moreover, she is the first Australian player to have appeared in the ICC and FIFA World Cup. She is an all-rounder player who is a master batter as well as a fast bowler.
There are several records under Perry’s name. Ellyse was the first player to amass a combined 1,000 runs and 1,000 wickets in T20Is.
Similarly, she holds the record for the highest score by an Australian woman (213 not out) and a third player to claim 150 wickets in women’s ODIs.
Perry has also been awarded numerous honors like Rachael Heyhoe Flint Awards, Belinda Clark Award three times. Likewise, she has also been named one of the five Wisden Five Cricketers of the Decade: 2010-19.
Perry’s skills and performance have given her the status of “the ultimate role model.” She is one of the rising female leading figures in Australia’s sporting culture.
2. Sarah Jane Taylor
The next female cricket player is a 34 year-old English cricket, Sarah Jane Taylor. She is currently playing for the Sussex, Northern Diamonds, and Welsh Fire.
Born in Whitechapel, London, Taylor has been playing cricket since 2004. Taylor broke the record for the highest stand in women’s One Day International cricket in 2008.
The female English cricketer became the youngest woman cricketer to score 1000 runs in One Day Internationals in the same year. Then in 2009, she broke the record of Enid Bakewell when she scored 120 at a run-a-ball in the 2nd One Day International.
Taylor is a wicket-keeper-batter and known for her free-flowing stroke play. She had played for teams like Wellington, South Australia, Adelaide Strikers, Lancashire Thunder, and Surrey Stars.
In 2019, Taylor retired from international cricket due to an anxiety issue. Before that, she appeared in 10 Test matches, 126 One Day Internationals, and 90 T20 Internationals for England.
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3. Belinda Clark
Belinda Jane Clark is a former Australian international cricket player. She was born on September 10, 1970, in Newcastle, New South Wales.
For eleven years, Clark served as the captain of the Australian national women’s team. She was the first player to record a double century in One Day International (ODI). During her captainship, the winning rate of the team was 83%.
Clark is widely regarded as the pioneer of the game and one of the greatest female cricket players in history. Belinda was the first woman to be enshrined into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame to contribute to the game.
Likewise, she is also inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and the second woman. Clark achieved various accomplishments during her playing career.
She is a three-time Women’s National Cricket League Player of the Season. She is also a three-time Women’s National Cricket League Player of the Finals. Additionally, in 1998, Clark was named Wisden Australia Cricketer of the Year.
While playing in the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL), she won five championships with New South Wales and two with Victoria.
Clark served as an executive for Cricket Australia and was also a member of the International Cricket Council’s Women’s Committee.
4. Jhulan Goswami
Next on our list is an Indian international cricket player and the former captain of the Indian national women’s cricket team. Jhulan Goswami is a 41 year-old all-rounder, right-handed player.
Goswami is considered one of the greatest woman fast bowlers of all time. She first started taking an interest in cricket when she watched the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
This interest was fueled further after watching Australian batter Belinda Clark in the 1997 Women’s Cricket Work Cup. Then in 2002, Goswami made her international debut in a One Day International Match at the age of 19.
Goswami is one of the fastest bowlers in the history of women’s cricket and is also one of the fastest contemporary bowlers. She is the highest wicket-taker in the Women’s One Day International cricket.
In 2007, Goswami won the ICC Women’s Player of the Year award. Similarly, in 2011, she won the M.A. Chidambaram Trophy for Best Women’s Cricketer. And in 2016, she was ranked first in the ICC Women’s ODI bowling rankings.
Goswami announced her retirement from WT20Is in 2018.
5. Cathryn Fitzpatrick
Born on March 4, 1968, Cathryn Fitzpatrick is a former Australian cricketer. She made her first international debut in 1991.
Fitzpatrick is one of the world’s fastest female bowlers. However, her top and average speeds are estimated and not measured precisely.
Despite this, the eye-witness agrees that she was the world’s fastest female bowler of her time. Her quickest delivery was recorded as 125 km/h.
Fitzpatrick is the first woman to take 100 One Day International wickets. She is also the oldest woman to take a five-wicket haul in ODI history at 37 years.
On 124 occasions, Fitzpatrick represented Australia in cricket. In 1997 and 2005, the Australian team won the Women’s Cricket World Cup, and she was part of the team.
Cathryn announced her retirement from international cricket as well as her domestic career in 2007. After her retirement, Fitzpatrick served as head coach of the Australian women’s team from 2012 to 2015.
For her contribution, Fitzpatrick was enshrined into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame in 2019. A year later, she became the ICC Cricket Hall of Famer.
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6. Katherine Helen Brunt
On our sixth rank of the best female cricket players is an English cricketer Katherine Helen Brunt. This 38 year-old cricketer is currently playing for Yorkshire, Northern Diamonds, Trent Rockets, and England.
Brunt is an aggressive right-arm fast bowler and right-handed lower-order batter. She has represented England on several occasions.
In the 2009 Twenty20 World championship final at Lords, Brunt became Player of the Match. Her best figures in One Day International were recorded in the 2011 NatWest Women’s Quadrangular Series final.
England’s women’s cricket team won the 2017 Women’s Cricket World Cup held in England. Brunt was a member of that winning team.
Some of her career highlight wins include two World Cups, one T20 World Cup. Similarly, Brunt has been named England women’s cricketer the Year four times.
7. Mithali Raj
Next on our list is an Indian cricket player Mithali Raj. Born on December 3, 1982, Mithali is also the Test and ODI captain of the women’s national cricket team.
Raj is a right-handed opening batswoman and occasional right-arm leg-break bowler. This Indian cricketer is one of the best female cricketers who holds various records under her name.
This 41 years old female cricketer is the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket and the first to score seven consecutive 50s in ODIs. Similarly, she holds the record for most half-centuries in WODIs.
In the 2018 Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup, Raj became the first player from India to score 2000 runs in T20Is. Mithali is also the first woman cricketer to reach 2000 WT20I runs.
Raj has captained India in the ICC ODI World Cup final twice in 2005 and 2017. Moreover, she is the first woman to play in 200 ODI matches.
The achievements that Raj has gathered over the years have earned her various national and international awards. Some of them are the Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the world in 2017 and the Padma Shri in 2015.
In 2019, Raj announced her retirement from T20Is. Then, in 2021, she has become the leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket.
8. Charlotte Edwards
Charlotte Edwards is a former professional English cricketer. She was born on December 17, 1979, in Huntingdon, England.
Edwards held the helm of the England women’s team as a captain and had an international career of 20 years. She is England’s then youngest cricketer on her debut. Moreover, she broke a world scoring record before her 18th birthday.
From 2005, Edwards took the leadership of the England team. During her captainship, the team was able to win the Ashes series, world titles in one-day, and Twenty20 formats of the game.
In addition to team wins, she has also gathered many individual awards. They include ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year, Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Likewise, Edward also won the ECB Cricketer of the Year awards.
She played for teams like Kent, Hampshire, Southern Vipers, and Australian teams during her career. In 2016, Edwards retired from international cricket. The following year she retired from all cricket.
For her contribution to English cricket, the “Charlotte Edwards Cup” was named in 2021 as the new English domestic women’s Twenty20 competition.
9. Stafanie Roxann Taylor
The next female cricketer to join our list of best female cricket players hails from West Indies. She is Stafanie Roxann Taylor who the current captain of the West Indies women’s cricket team.
Taylor made her first professional debut in 2008 at the age of 17. She immediately, on her debut, scored her highest Twenty20 total, striking 90 runs from 49 balls.
Altogether, she has represented West Indies women’s cricket team over 80 times since her debut. Hence, there is no wonder she has set multiple records since then.
Some of the notable records include her being the first woman to score 1,000 runs in ODIs for the West Indies. In addition, in 2011, she became the first West Indian to become ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year.
Likewise, she was the highest run-scorer and named player of the series in 2016. In 2019, Taylor played in her 100th Women’s Twenty20 International match. And on 2020, she became the second cricketer to score 3,000 runs in WT20I cricket.
Taylor is an influential figure in West Indies women’s cricket. She also plays domestic cricket for Jamaica and Adelaide Strikers. She had also played for teams like Auckland, Southern Vipers, Western Storm, Trailblazers, and Sydney Thunder.
10. Lisa Sthalekar
We have another Australian female cricketer on our list. Lisa Sthalekar is a former professional cricketer and captain of Australia’s international women’s cricket team.
Sthaleka was rated as the leading all-rounder in the world. She first made her debut late in 1997-98 as a specialist bowler in the Women’s National Cricket League.
After her debut, she has represented her country on an international platform numerous times. In addition, she played for New South Wales in domestic cricket.
Sthalekar is the first woman to score 1,000 runs and take 100 wickets in ODIs. Her career highlight awards include the Belinda Clark Award in 2007 and 2008.
Sthalekar struggled with her performance during her professional career, but overall, she was a brilliant player. In the 2009 World Cup, she was Australia’s leading wicket-taker with 13 wickets at 15.69.
In 2013, the Australian international women’s team won the 2013 Women’s Cricket World Cup. However, after the win, she announced her retirement from international cricket.
In 2020, Sthalekar became the ICC Cricket Hall of Famer.
11. Meghann Lanning
Meghann Lanning is another Australian cricket on our list of best female cricket players. She is a 32 year-old cricketer, the current captain of the Australian national women’s team.
Lanning is a captain for the domestic cricket team of Victoria in the Women’s National Cricket. Likewise, she is also captain for the Melbourne Stars in the Women’s Big Bash League.
In 2010, Lanning made her first international cricket debut against New Zealand at Saxton Oval. After her debut, she has been setting numerous records under her name.
She has the record for the most Women’s One Day International centuries, and she is the first Australian to score 2,000 Twenty20 International runs.
Lanning’s notable career highlight wins include five-time world championship campaigns, one Women’s Cricket World Cup. She has also won four ICC Women’s World Twenty20 titles.
Likewise, she is a three times winner of the Belinda Clark Award and was named the 2015 Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the world.
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12. Shashikala Siriwardene
We will be closing off our list of best female cricket players with the former Sri Lankan cricketer Shashikala Siriwardene. On February 14, 1985, she was born and made her ODI debut in 2003 at age 18.
Siriwardene made her international debut when women’s cricket in Sri Lanka was not under the control of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.
In the 2005 Women’s Cricket World Cup, Siriwardene made her World Cup debut appearance. In the same year, Siriwardene was appointed as the captain of the national team.
At 20, she became the youngest ever captain of the Sri Lanka women’s cricket team in WODIs. In addition to that, she became the third-youngest captain in Women’s One Day Internationals.
Siriwardene is the only woman cricketer to take 100 wickets in WODIs for Sri Lanka. She is also the only female Sri Lankan to combine this with 1000+ runs.
In the history of the Sri Lankan women’s cricket team, Siriwardene is the longest-serving member. After a career span of 17 years, she retired from cricket.
For her contribution to Sri Lankan women’s cricket, Siriwardene is regarded as the mother figure of Sri Lankan women’s cricket.
Conclusion
These women are the pioneer in the field of Women’s cricket. Their contribution to the game has changed and further opened vast opportunities for the coming generations of female cricketers.
These charismatic women have proved that they can stand on the same platform as men and are not to be underestimated. This concludes our list of the best female cricket players in the world.
