Fantastic Matthews

AND THEN there were four.

West Indies captain Hayley Matthews, Australia’s Elise Perry, England’s Sophie Ecclestone, and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu have been shortlisted for the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2023 Award.

Three of the players on the shortlist, Perry, Athapaththu, and Matthews are all-rounders, while Ecclestone made the list for her bowling in 2023.

In 2023, Matthews scored 700 runs and took 19 wickets in 14 matches for the West Indies, meaning on just pure statistics, she tops the list of all-rounders and challenges Ecclestone’s wicket-taking masterclass.

The number-one-ranked MRF Tyres ICC Women’s T20I all-rounder put on a performance for the ages against Australia in a bilateral T20I series in the second half of the year. Her stellar showing in the series saw her score 99*, 132 and 79 as the West Indies skipper proved to be a thorn in the Australian side.

Matthews’ extraordinary unbeaten 99 in the series’ first game was overshadowed by her mind-blowing 132 in a run-chase of 213 in Sydney. The world-record run-chase in women’s T20Is saw Matthews break several other records, including that of the highest individual score in a women’s T20I run-chase. Her overall tally of 310 runs in the series is the most by any player in a women’s T20I bilateral series.

GOOD PERFORMANCE

Matthews also had a good T20 World Cup, scoring 130 runs and taking four wickets and four catches. The all-rounder’s 700 runs in the year is the most by any player in a year in Women’s T20Is. Her 19 wickets came at an average of 16.21.

While Matthews had a stunning all-round game against Ireland where she picked up four wickets and made a 34-ball 48, her remarkable 132 against Australia overshadowed it all. Having taken 3/36 with the ball as Australia made a whopping 212, West Indies were faced with a daunting task in the run-chase.

Matthews raced to 29 off 16 balls in the Powerplay, but nothing could have prepared anyone for the second half of her innings. She hit two fours and a six in the 17th over of the run-chase to race to her century off just 53 balls and then clubbed Jess Jonassen for four fours in a row in the 19th over to bring the equation down to eight runs needed off six balls.

While Matthews was dismissed in the over, she had set the stage for one of the most outrageous women’s T20I wins of all time with her blistering 132 off just 64 balls. The innings was studded with 20 fours and five sixes as 110 of her 132 runs came in boundaries.

The West Indies captain’s Sri Lankan competitor, Athapaththu, scored 470 runs this year and took eight wickets from 16 matches to join the shortlist.

Ecclestone’s bowling brought her 23 wickets in just 11 matches at an average of 10.60. This is despite missing part of the year with a shoulder injury that required surgery.

Athapaththu scored 470 runs in the year and took eight wickets from 16 matches, while Perry notched 319 and six from 14.