South African skipper, Laura Wolvaardt, surpassed the 6000 international runs mark in the 3rd and final T20I at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, against India in the multi-format series.
The right-handed batter initially needed 57 runs before the start of the T20I series against India and in the 3rd T20I she reached the 6000 International runs mark and became the first South African batter to achieve this milestone in international cricket and the second youngest globally to achieve this feat.
Youngest to 6000 International runs:
Stafanie Taylor – 24y 293d
Laura Wolvaardt – 25y 74d
Smriti Mandhana – 26y 185d
Meg Lanning – 27y 121d
Sarah Taylor – 28y 152d
Laura also became the joint third fastest batter to reach 6000 International runs, achieving this milestone in her 166th inning, equalling the record with Australia’s Meg Lanning. In the first T20I, the South African skipper was dismissed for 33 runs, followed by 22 runs in the 2nd T20I, just short of 2 runs which she completed in her 3rd ball of the innings, with a boundary in the 1st over of the first innings of South Africa in the third T20I.
🚨 RECORD 🚨
Proteas skipper Laura Wolvaardt completes 6,000 International runs.
She becomes 2nd youngest to achieve this milestone.#CricketTwitter #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/CFI9aeVm11
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) July 9, 2024
Fastest to 6000 International runs (By Innings):
Karen Rolton – 160 Innings
Stafanie Taylor – 162 innings
Laura Wolvaardt – 166 innings
Meg Lanning – 166 innings
Mithali Raj – 169 innings
Laura made her international debut against England in an ODI match at the age of just 16 and scored her first century against Ireland at 17y 105d, becoming the third youngest female cricketer to score an international century. Laura has had a phenomenal year so far, recently completing 4000 ODI runs and becoming the youngest female batter to do so. She has struck five centuries in her last 10 matches, including her maiden T20I century against Sri Lanka at home.
During the ongoing all-format tour against India, she scored an unbeaten 135 off 135 in the second ODI and also scored her maiden Test century in the One-Off Test played in Chennai, although both centuries came in losing causes, she became the third player to score centuries across all formats in women’s international cricket. Before this 3rd T20I, Laura has played three Tests, 98 ODIs, and 68 T20Is, scoring over 43 half-centuries and has registered 10 centuries across formats. She reached the landmark of 1000 runs in 2017 against Ireland and was announced as the captain across all formats in September 2023, succeeding Sune Luus.
She has had a decent outing so far in the ongoing all-format series against India, scoring 397 runs, including one fifty and two centuries. Laura’s journey continues to be filled with milestones; at just 25, she is already the leading run-scorer for South Africa and aims to lead her nation to potential World Cup success under her captaincy.