The inaugural edition of the Women’s Hundred was originally scheduled for July 2020, but, it had to be postponed to July 2021 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus all around the globe. The tournament involves a total of eight teams, namely, Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets, and the Welsh Fire from different parts of England. In this article, we will have a look at the journey of the star Indian batter Smriti Mandhana in the Women’s version of the Hundred tournament.
The head coaches of the respective teams were responsible for selecting the squad, courtesy of the absence of a player draft. A few Indian stars, the likes of Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Smriti Mandhana were a part of the overseas roaster for the Inaugural edition.
Indian skipper Harmnpreet Kaur was picked up by Manchester Originals, while Shafali Verma joined Birmingham Phoenix as a replacement for New Zealand’s Sophie Devine. Deepti Sharma joined the London Spirit, while Jemimah Rodrigues was signed by the Northern Superchargers. The vice-captain of the Indian team Smriti Mandhana was all set to represent Southern Brave in the Hundred. However, Harmanpreet Kaur eventually withdrew her name from the inaugural edition.
🚨 Milestone Alert 🚨
Smriti Mandhana becomes the 1st player to score 500 Runs in Women's Hundred.
What a player 🙌🏻#CricketTwitter #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/iOLfqmM9kA
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 5, 2023
Smriti Mandhana scored 167 runs at a strike rate of 133.60 in seven innings with a high score of 78 against Welsh Fire for the Southern Brave in the Inaugural edition. Her tally of runs included a couple of half-centuries. She played a pivotal role with the bat in helping her side finish at the top of the points table at the end of the league stages and eventually reach the finals of the competition in the inaugural edition. However, they ended up as the runners-up as they failed to chase down the target of 122, falling short by 48 runs against the Oval Invincibles in the finals.
Southern Brave retained her for the second edition on the back of her impressive performances in the previous edition. She was among the two Indians to be retained for the 2022 edition of the Women’s Hundred, the other one was Jemimah Rodrigues who scored 318 runs at an average of 35.33 and an astonishing strike rate of 150 for the Northern Superchargers. Her tally of runs included four half-centuries, with a high score of 92 against the Welsh Fire.
She had a good season with the bat scoring 211 runs at an average of 30.14 and an amazing strike rate of 151.79, with a high score of 57 staying unbeaten against the Trent Rockets at Southampton. Her impressive performance with the bat played a crucial role in helping her side finish second on the points table. They went onto the finals for the second consecutive time but unfortunately ended up on the losing side yet again against the Oval Invincibles as they failed to defend their total.
She was retained again by the Southern Brave side and she continues to repay the faith laid in her by the team management as she has continued her amazing journey with her side by scoring back-to-back half-centuries in the first couple of games against the Trent Rockets and the Welsh Fire, amassing 125 runs at a strike rate of 160.25 and a high score of 70 not out in the last game. She has also gone past the 500-run mark, becoming the first player to achieve the landmark in the Women’s edition of the Hundred.