The veteran 31-year-old pacer bowler, hailing from Adelaide, South Australia made her international debut on 17th December 2012 in an ODI against New Zealand. The following year, on January 22, 2024, she made her T20I debut against New Zealand.
Over the years she has established herself as one of the stand-out performers and the go-to new-ball bowler for Australia, especially in the white-ball format. She is known for her lethal inswingers, and she recently added another variation to her armory in the form of a leg-cutter.
Schutt has picked up 140 wickets at an impressive average of 17.51 and an economy of 6.36 in 113 innings. Her tally of wickets includes four 4-wicket hauls and one 5-wicket haul in the T20I format. Her best performance with the ball in the format came on 24th January 2023 against Pakistan when she returned with exceptional match figures (4-1-15-5) with the ball in her spell at the North Sydney Oval, Sydney. She was also awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning spell.
She made her Women’s T20I World Cup debut on 18th March 2016 in India in the 5th edition of the tournament. She picked up seven wickets at an average of 15.85 and an economy of 6.52 in six innings in her debut T20 World Cup campaign. Her best T20 World Cup campaign to date has been the 7th edition of the tournament in the year 2020, hosted by Australia. She accounted for a total of 13 wickets at an exceptional average of 10.30 and an economy of 6.33 in six innings with the ball for her side. Her exploits with the ball in that 7th edition of the tournament played a vital role in helping Australia clinch their 5th ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title.
Numero Uno 🔝
🇦🇺 Megan Schutt claims her throne as the highest wicket-taker in Women’s T20 World Cup with 44 wickets! 🔥#CricketTwitter #T20WorldCup2024 pic.twitter.com/acjh0UqLGD
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 8, 2024
She is now into her 5th ICC Women’s T20 World campaign for Australia in the ongoing 9th edition of the tournament being held in the United Arab Emirates and hosted by Bangladesh. She is currently one of the mainstays of the Australian pace attack. She delivered an exceptional spell in Australia’s first match against Sri Lanka led by skipper Chamari Athapaththu in the 9th edition of the tournament. Her spell (4-1-12-3) eventually proved to be the game-changer against Sri Lanka.
She was also awarded the Player of the Match for her match-winning spell. En route to her spell, she also became the joint-highest wicket-taker alongside South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail in the history of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup with 43 wickets at a sensational average of 11.69 in 25 innings. Her tally of wickets includes a couple of four-wicket hauls. Her best performance in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup came on 8th March 2020, when she returned with match figures (3.1-0-18-4) in her spell against India in a final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
She became the leading wicket-taker of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup (44* wickets), surpassing former South African speedster Shabnim Ismail (43 wickets). She achieved the landmark in their 2nd game of the 2024 campaign against New Zealand led by skipper Sophie Devine. Australia posted a competitive total of 148/8 in their quota of overs after skipper Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to bat first. Megan Schutt cleaned up New Zealand opening batter Georgia Plimmer with a lovely in-dipper to rattle the stumps, providing the first breakthrough for Australia in the 3rd over of the run chase.
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