England’s Sophie Ecclestone break 21-year-old all-time record in ODIs β India TV
Image Source : GETTY Sophie Ecclestone England’s left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone entered the record books in the third and final ODI against Pakistan played on May 28 (Wednesday) played at the County Ground in Chelmsford. She picked up three wickets for just 15 runs and completed 100 wickets in the ODI format in the 64th match of her already glorious career. She reached the landmark of 100 scalps in the format in 63 innings becoming the fastest ever to the milestone in Women’s cricket. This record earlier belonged to Australia’sΒ Cathryn Fitzpatrick who had completed a century of wickets in the 50-over format in 64 innings back in February 2003.Β Sophie is world’s number one ODI and T20I bowler at the moment and at the age of only 25, she has already played 64 ODIs and 81 T20Is accounting for more than 100 wickets in both formats. Thanks to her spell, in the third ODI against Pakistan, England comfortably defended the 302-run total winning the match by a massive margin of 178 runs. In fact, it was a collective effort from England’s bowling unit as well with Lauren Bell and Nat-Sciver Brunt accounting for a couple of wickets each too.Β Fastest to 100 ODI wickets in women’s cricket Player Innings taken to complete 100 wickets Sophie Ecclestone (England) 63 Cathryn Fitzpatrick (Australia) 64 Megan Schutt (Australia) 66 Jess Jonassen (Australia) 67 Shabnim Ismail (South Africa) 68 Overall, Ecclestone picked up six wickets, the highest in the series by any bowler and won the player of the series award for her efforts. As for the match, Nat-Sciver won the player of the match award for smashing an unbeaten 124 off 117 balls that helped the hosts put behind a relatively slow start (70/3 in 14th over) and post a total in excess of 300 runs in their 50 overs.Β In response, apart from Muneeba Ali (47) and Aliya Riaz (35), none of the Pakistan batters could even cross the 15-run mark as they crumbled for only 124 runs in the 30th over of the innings. Pakistan’s tour of England concluded with zero wins for the visiting side even as England batted first in all the matches (3 T20Is and 2 ODIs with one match getting washed out).
