Women’s cricket continues to see a popularity surge and it’s mainly down to the extreme talent displayed by these professionals. Every international team seems to have at least one potential superstar at the moment and the game keeps growing at a rapid rate.
All cricket fans should be women’s cricket fans too – that’s a given, after all, it just means you get to watch more amazing cricket matches! There have been so many stories over the years and records that keep getting broken. Today, we’re celebrating the best batting in women’s cricket history by displaying the 5 highest scores ever made.
Honourable Mentions
Before we show you the top five, we need to bring in a couple of honourable mentions. We’re throwing these two scores in here as they were provided in the same match on April 17th 2024 between South Africa and Sri Lanka. You could’ve bet on this match via Goldenbet Casino and would’ve gotten insane odds for the number of runs scored by each team.
The two scores in question are:
- 184* by Laura Wolvaardt
- 194* by Chamari Athapaththu
To see two huge scores in the same ODI was incredible and we’re sure Wolvaardt thought she’d done enough to win the match as her score helped South Africa reach 301/5. For Sri Lanka to reach 305/4 after just 44.3 overs, well, nobody saw that coming and this match will go down in history.
Athapaththu’s knock was so incredibly the Sri Lankan Sports Minister went on record to publicly claim he wanted her to feature in the Men’s team at their upcoming World Cup! That will never happen (sadly) but it’s great to see a female cricketer receive such high praise from people in commanding positions.
Now, onto the main top five!
5. Ellyse Perry – 213*
This incredible double century by Ellyse Perry in 2017 saw her win Player of the Match against England. It was a stellar performance with 213 runs from 374 balls and 27 4s thrown in the mix. An impressive strike rate of 56.95 solidified this as one of the most impressive batting displays in modern history.
It’s a shame that the performance was for nothing as the game ended in a draw. Still, to do so well in an Ashes match means this continues to live long in everyone’s memories.
4. Mithali Raj – 214
We have to travel back to 2002 for this performance from Mithali Raj for India against England. It turns out a lot of these top scores happened against England, but whether that’s a coincidence or hints at a deep problem within English Women’s cricket we do not know!
A stunning 214 from 407 balls helped guide India Women to a first-innings score of 467. Had Raj not performed so incredibly, India would’ve comfortably lost this test match. As with the previous performance, this one resulted in a draw for her team. The best thing to say about this score is that it happened over 20 years ago and is still the fourth-highest score of all time. Even better, it’s the second-highest test score in women’s cricket, which shows the sheer class of Mithali Raj and one wonders how well she’d do in the modern era of cricket.
3. Belinda Clark – 229*
Speaking of scores that have stood the test of time, nobody could quite believe Belinda Clark’s knock of 229 not out in an ODI back in 1997. Sure, it was against Denmark (who only managed 49 in the match) but it’s still a statement performance.
229 from 155 balls in an ODI is insane – and she walloped a massive 22 sixes during her innings too. Belinda and her side went on to win the World Cup with a one-run victory over old rivals New Zealand in the final. This was the second-highest women’s cricket score ever for 21 years until it got pipped by the next name on our list in 2018. Funnily enough, the woman who stole the second-place spot is from New Zealand! Perhaps it’s some late revenge for her old comrades.
2. Amelia Kerr – 232*
Amelia Kerr made headlines across the cricketing world when she hit 232 not out in an ODI against Ireland. It was significant for many reasons, the key one being that it made her the youngest cricketer – male or female – to score a double hundred in a professional match.
She was just 17 at the time, making this incredible feat all the more insane. It’s the highest individual score by a female cricketer in One Day Internationals and came over 145 balls with 31 fours and 2 sixes. It was and remains a World Record and Amelia has gone on to have an incredibly fruitful career across all formats of the game.
1. Kiran Baluch – 242
In 2004, Pakistani batswoman Kiran Baluch set a run-scoring record that’s yet to be topped across all formats of women’s cricket. She scored an incredible 242 runs with over 580 minutes of batting. 38 fours and plenty of defensive shots took her to this tally and saved her team from losing against the West Indies.
No other player managed more than 35 runs bar her opening partner Sajjida Shah – and three consecutive batters were out for ducks! It was a monstrous performance that still hasn’t been beaten and remains one of the best women’s cricket records of all time. Here’s the crazy thing – the match ended in a draw!
That’s right, all of the highest test run scores were in matches that ended up as draws. Maybe it’s because the opposing team spent too much time trying to get these Titans out or more likely it’s down to poor weather conditions. Regardless, all five of these scores are hugely impressive – but do you think the top one will be broken anytime soon? Annabel Sutherland recently hit 210 in a test match for Australia, but that’s as close as anyone has got in recent times. The main thing to take from all of this is that women’s cricket rocks and is just as entertaining as the men’s side!
Loves all things female cricket