Australia’s Cathryn Fitzpatrick holds the record for the fastest ball in women’s cricket. The fast bowler once bowled a ball at 132 km/h and no other bowler has been able to go past her landmark. Fitzpatrick used to generate a lot of pace, and bowled at an average speed of around 125 km/h throughout her career.
Fitzpatrick played 16 years for Australia since her debut against India back in February 1991 at the St Peter's College in Adelaide. She played 13 Tests, 109 ODIs and 2 T20Is for the national team and was a genuine wicket-taker. In Test cricket, she picked up 60 wickets at an economy rate of 1.91 with six four-wicket hauls and two five-wicket hauls to her name.
Fastest 100 in cricket history: AB de Villiers holds the record
Fitzpatrick got her best figures of 18.1-6-29-5 against England back in June 2001 at the Denis Compton Oval in Shenley. In ODI cricket, the Victoria-born bowler was a force to be reckoned with. In the 50-over format, she picked up 180 wickets with seven four-wicket hauls and four five-wicket hauls to show for her efforts.
Fitzpatrick got her best figures of 10-3-14-5 against Ireland back in July 2001 at the Trinity College in Dublin. She also played 25 matches for Australia in the Women’s World Cup in which she picked up 33 wickets at an economy rate of 2.75. She also achieved the landmark of becoming the first bowler to pick up 100 wickets in ODIs.
Apart from being a potent fast bowler, Fitzpatrick was also a handy batter lower down the order. In Tests and ODIs, she scored 152 and 651 runs at an average of 16.88 and 16.69 respectively. Fitzpatrick bid goodbye to international cricket after playing in the final of the 2007 Quadrangular series against New Zealand at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Today is International Women's Day….here's some OLD GOLD from Australia's gun female bowler, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, from 2000 vs New Zealand.
— Rob Moody (@robelinda2) March 8, 2021
For 16 years she was the fastest bowler in women's cricket. In tests, 60 wickets at 19, in ODI's 180 wickets at 16. That's 🤯 pic.twitter.com/I24lVJfKgU
Contents
Fastest ball in women's cricket
Ellyse Perry among toppers
Legendary Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry is second in the list of fastest ball in women’s cricket. Perry once bowled a ball at a speed of 130.5 km/h, which is genuinely quick. Perry generated the speed while playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their match against Alyssa Healy’s UP Warriorz in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 match at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai.
Perry bowled a ball to veteran England’s Sophie Ecclestone and breached the 130 km/h-mark. Perry had an outstanding outing with the ball in hand after she finished with stupendous figures of 4-0-16-3 as she broke the backbone of the opposition batting lineup. She got the wickets of Grace Harris, Deepti Sharma, and Shweta Sehrawat.
On the back of her spell, RCB bowled the Warriorz out for 135 in 19.3 overs. Later, Perry failed with the bat, but the Challengers won the match by five wickets after chasing down the target with 12 balls to spare.
Perry recently played his 300th international match for Australia on the tour of India and aspires to play 400 games. She holds the record for becoming the first woman from her country to pick up 300 wickets in international cricket. Perry is currently gearing up to play another season of the WPL with the RCB, captained by Smriti Mandhana.
In 12 Tests, 141 ODIs and 150 T20Is, Perry has scored 925, 3852 and 1828 runs respectively with the help of four hundreds and 47 half-centuries to her name. The 33-year-old has picked up 425 wickets as well with six four-wicket hauls and five five-wicket hauls.
Shabnim Ismail amps it up
Former South African fast bowler Shabnim Ismail bowled a delivery at 128 km/h (80 mph) during the T20 World Cup 2023 match against Heather Knight’s England at the Newlands in Cape Town. In the last ball of her second over, she bowled a vicious bouncer to Nat Sciver Brunt, who just swayed away from the line of the ball. The ball had a lot of pace and even a batter of Sciver Brunt’s class had very little answer to it.
It was a brilliant over altogether for Ismail, who got the prized wicket of Sophia Dunkley and Alice Capsey. The speedster finished with impressive figures of 4-0-27-3. On the back of her brilliant spell of bowling, South Africa won the semi-final by six runs after restricting England to 158 for eight in 20 overs.
In 1 Test, 127 ODIs and 113 T20Is, Ismail picked up three, 191 and 123 wickets respectively with six four-wicket hauls and four five-wicket hauls to her name. Back in May 2023, she pulled the curtains down on her international career.
Ismail is someone who could hurry batters and push them on to the backfoot. He was an asset for the Proteas Women’s team.
Last year, Ismail played for the UP Warriorz in the WPL. This time around, she will ply her trade for the Mumbai Indians, captained by Indian national skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
Darcie Brown generates serious pace
Australian fast bowler Darcie Brown spewed venom after she bowled the fastest delivery in the history of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) back in October 2022. Playing for the Adelaide Strikers, Brown showed her class against the Melbourne Renegades. In the fifth ball of the first over in the Renegades’ run-chase, Brown bowled a ball at a speed of 127.2 km/h.
Brown, only 19 years back then, is currently a crucial part of the Australian bowling attack. Brown gave away 28 runs against the Renegades in three overs at an economy rate of 9.33. The Strikers lost the match after failing to defend six runs off the last over.
Slowest ball in cricket history: Best seven slower deliveries
In three Tests, 18 ODIs and 29 T20Is, Brown has picked up three, 23 and 28 wickets respectively with two four-wicket hauls to show for her efforts.
Apart from Ismail, Brown, Fitzpatrick and Perry, there have been other bowlers, who enthralled the fans with their ability to generate pace.
India’s Jhulan Goswami, Bangladesh’s Jahanara Alam and Australia’s Tayla Vlaeminck and Stella Campbell are also among the names to bowl the fastest ball in women's cricket.
