Numbers story: T20 World Cup records made and broken

There were centuries made, partnership records set, economical spells bowled, wickets galore taken - the T20 World Cup witnessed many records being made and some rewritten. Women's CricZone looks at some of those.

Tournament records tumble

195/3 – South Africa’s total against Thailand was the highest ever at a Women’s T20 World Cup.

259 – Beth Mooney broke the record (257 by Meg Lanning in 2014) for most runs at a Women’s T20 World Cup.

236 - Alyssa Healy’s runs for the tournament were the 4th most at a single edition, and broke her own record for most runs as a keeper (225 in 2018). During the tournament, Healy (83 v Bangladesh) also broke Sarah Taylor’s records for highest score and most Women's T20 World Cup career runs as keeper (660).

25 - Healy also broke Taylor's record (20) for most Women's T20 World Cup career dismissals. India's Taniya Bhatia (21) and South Africa's Trisha Chetty (21) would later join Healy in overtaking Taylor's mark during the tournament.

352 – Healy & Mooney smashed their own record (263 in 2018) for most runs as a partnership during a T20 World Cup, and were the first pairing to make two century stands at a single edition.

3 – Mooney, Healy and Natalie Sciver all equalled the record for most 50+ scores during a Women’s T20 World Cup. The only previous player to make three fifties in a tournament was Meg Lanning in 2016.

163 - Shafali Verma scored the most runs by a teenager at a Women’s T20 World Cup. Her strike rate (158.25) was the 3^rd highest by any player to have scored 150+ runs at a single edition.  

13 – Megan Schutt equalled Anya Shrubsole’s record for most wickets taken at a Women’s T20 World Cup. Schutt is the only woman to have taken 10+ wickets at two different T20 World Cups.

169* - Natalie Sciver and Heather Knight (England v Thailand) made the highest partnership in tournament history, and England’s highest partnership for any wicket in women’s T20Is.

131 – Lizelle Lee and Sune Luus’ partnership for South Africa v Thailand broke the tournament record for highest 2^nd wicket stand.

A final like no other

184/4 – Australia’s total was the highest ever made in a T20 World Cup final, and was also the highest total in any women’s T20 match at the MCG, beating New South Wales’ 173/6 against Victoria in January 2013.

85 runs – Australia’s margin of victory was the widest in a Women’s T20 World Cup knock-out match, and India’s 2nd heaviest defeat by runs in any women’s T20I.

78* – Beth Mooney made the highest score in a Women’s T20 World Cup final, a record that Healy had broken minutes earlier with her 75 off 39 balls. The previous record had been Hayley Matthews’ 66 for West Indies against Australia in 2016.

5 – Healy broke the record for most sixes in a Women’s T20 World Cup knockout match. Her strike rate (192.30) was the highest for a score of 50+ runs during the knockout stages, and her fifty, which came off 30 balls, was the fastest in a T20 World Cup final.

115 – Healy & Mooney’s opening stand was the 2nd highest partnership for any wicket in a Women’s T20 World Cup final, and was also the highest partnership ever made against India in a Women’s T20 World Cup match.

4/18 – Megan Schutt’s figures were the best taken in a Women’s T20 World Cup final and the joint best figures of her international career in all formats.

ALSO READ: A record-breaking T20 World Cup 2020

10 – India’s innings was the first instance of all ten wickets being taken caught in any T20 international innings.

52 – Shikha Pandey (4-0-52-0) broke the record for most runs conceded in a Women’s T20 World Cup innings.

16 – Shafali Verma (16 years 40 days) and Richa Ghosh (16y 162d, who came on as a concussion substitute for Taniya Bhatia) were the two youngest players ever to feature in a senior World Cup final of either format for men or women.

86,174 – The crowd in attendance for the final was the biggest ever for a women’s cricket match and 2nd biggest for any women’s sporting event worldwide, beaten only by the 1999 FIFA World Cup final (90,185).

Double centurions

2 – 2020 was the first Women’s T20 World Cup to feature two centuries.

108* - Heather Knight’s maiden T20I hundred (v Thailand) was the first century for England at a Women’s T20 World Cup and saw her become the first woman to make centuries in all three international formats.

101 – Lizelle Lee also made her maiden maiden T20I ton against Thailand. Lee was South Africa’s first Women’s T20 World Cup centurion, and the first opener in tournament history to score a hundred.

7 – Australia has played host to more women’s T20I hundreds than any other nation.

Four the record

4/16 – In her last international match, Shashikala Siriwardene took the best figures of the tournament. Siriwardene’s figures were the best by a Sri Lankan at a Women’s T20 World Cup and the 2nd best for Sri Lanka in any women’s T20I.

4/18 – Ritu Moni took Bangladesh’s first 4-fer at a Women’s T20 World Cup and the best figures ever recorded against New Zealand at the tournament.

4/19 – Poonam Yadav became the first visiting spinner to take four wickets in a women’s T20I innings against Australia.

4/23 – Against Sri Lanka, Radha Yadav became the youngest Indian woman (19 years 314 days) to take a T20I 4-fer.

ALSO READ: Radha Yadav revels in support role

Left-arm spinners give little away

1.00 rpo – Nonkululeko Mlaba’s 4-1-4-1 was the joint most economical 4.0 overs bowled at a Women’s T20 World Cup, and the most economical 4.0 over innings ever delivered in a women’s T20I in Australia.

3.23 rpo – Sophie Ecclestone’s economy rate for the tournament was the best by any woman to have delivered 10+ overs at a single edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup.

World bests

6 - Sophie Devine’s 75* for New Zealand v Sri Lanka was a record sixth consecutive 50+ score. No other player in men’s or women’s T20Is has made more than four in a row.

24 - Radha Yadav has now taken at least one wicket in each of her last 24 T20I innings, breaking a record Megan Schutt (23) had set just prior to the tournament. Over the course of the World Cup, Sophie Ecclestone (18 and counting) moved up to third on the list.

50 – On her 20th birthday, Nahida Akter (Bangladesh v Sri Lanka) became the youngest woman to take 50 T20I wickets, breaking a record which Sophie Ecclestone (20 years 300 days) had set just the day before, for England v West Indies. Ecclestone was the third fastest woman in terms of innings bowled (34) to take 50 T20I wickets.

100 – England’s Anya Shrubsole became the third woman to take 100 T20I wickets, and the fastest of the three to that mark in terms of innings bowled (74).

National records point to progress

125 – Pakistan’s win against West Indies was their highest successful chase at the Women’s T20 World Cup.

2 – Javeria Khan and Muneeba Ali’s 58 opening stand and Bismah Maroof and Nidar Dar’s 50* partnership for the third wicket against West Indies made this the first instance of Pakistan scoring two 50+ partnerships in the same women’s T20I innings.

9 wickets – Sri Lanka’s margin of victory against Bangladesh was their biggest T20I win by wickets, and brought an end to their longest losing streak in the format (13 matches).

Tournament debutants make their mark

0 – Thailand dismissed both England openers for a duck in the same innings. Australia are the only previous side to have done the same in the history of women's cricket (during the 1937 and 2019 Ashes).

150/3 – Thailand innings in their rained-off match against Pakistan was their highest total in T20Is.

56 – Nattakan Chantham became the first Thai to make a World Cup half-century, and the first to make a T20I fifty against an ODI nation.

23 – Their efforts against Pakistan saw Thailand equal the record for most fours in a Women’s T20 World Cup innings.

ALSO READ: The story of Thailand cricket

All-round stars

26* & 3/13 – Stafanie Taylor’s player of the match performance for West Indies v Thailand was the sixth time in her career that she scored at least 25 runs during and taken at least three wickets during the same T20I match. No other woman has achieved this feat more than four times in their career.

59* & 2/5 – Natalie Sciver (England v Thailand) became the fourth player and first English woman to both score 50+ runs and take 2+ wickets in the same Women’s T20 World Cup match.

Memorable collapses

7/39 – Australia’s collapse in their opening match against India was the biggest they have suffered from the fall of the 4th wicket in a women’s T20I. Their previous worst, also against India, was 7/40 at Visakhapatnam in March 2012.

8/25 – New Zealand’s collapse against Bangladesh was their biggest from the fall of the 3rd wicket in a T20I and the 2nd biggest such collapse by any side at a Women’s T20 World Cup (India’s semi-final capitulation of 8/23 against England in 2018 is the biggest).

And a record recovery

91 – New Zealand’s eventual total against Bangladesh was the lowest successfully defended at a Women’s T20 World Cup. The previous record was Sri Lanka’s 97/7 against Bangladesh in 2018.