Women's Twenty20 cricket

Women's Twenty20 cricket is the newly emerging use of the Twenty20 match format in women's cricket. While both women's cricket and Twenty20 have themselves enjoyed recent success, women's Twenty20 has only been an international cricket game format since 2004, with a mere 10 matches played between four teams. [Cricket Archive [http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/WT20Int/Overall/WT20int_List.html List of Women's Twenty20 International Matches] retrieved August 22 2007]

Format

The format of women's Twenty20 is no different from that of the men's sport:

* Should a bowler deliver a no ball by overstepping the popping crease, it costs 2 runs and his next delivery is designated a "free-hit", from which the batsman can only be dismissed through a run out, for hitting the ball twice, obstructing the field or handling the ball, as is the case for the original "no ball".

* Bowlers may bowl a maximum of only 4 overs per innings.

* Umpires may award 5-run penalty runs at their discretion if they believe either team is wasting time.

* If the fielding team do not start to bowl their 20th over within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra 6 runs for every whole over bowled after the 75 minute mark; the umpire may add more time to this, if he considers the batting team is wasting time.

* The following fielding restrictions apply:
** No more than 5 fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
** During the first 6 overs, a maximum of 2 fielders can be outside the 30-yard circle.
** After the first 6 overs, a maximum of 5 fielders can be outside the fielding circle.

*If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a bowl-out (similar to a penalty shoot-out in football), with 5 bowlers from each side delivering 2 balls each at an unguarded wicket. If the number of wickets is equal after the first 10 balls per side, the bowling continues and is decided by sudden death.

Eligibility

In 2006, the ICC announced that only the top 10 ranked women's sides would have Test and ODI (and therefore Twenty20) status:

* Australia
* England
* India
* Ireland
* New Zealand
* Netherlands
* Pakistan
* South Africa
* Sri Lanka
* West Indies

International matches

Women's Twenty20 records

Totals, wins and losses

* Highest innings total: 186/7 by New Zealand v South Africa at Taunton, August 10 2007
* Lowest innings total: 89 by South Africa v New Zealand at Taunton, August 10 2007
* Highest win margin: (by runs) 97 by New Zealand v South Africa at Taunton, August 10 2007 (by wickets) 8 by India v England at Derby, August 5 2006
* Lowest win margin: (by runs) 1 by New Zealand v Australia at Darwin, 19 July 2007 (by wickets) 5 by England team v New Zealand at Bath Cricket Ground, August 13 2007 CricInfo [http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/index.html?class=10 Women's Twenty20 Internationals] retrieved August 22 2007]

Batting

* Most career runs: flagicon|England Charlotte Edwards, 200
* Highest innings score: flagicon|Australia Karen Rolton, 96
* Highest career average: flagicon|Australia Karen Rolton, 173
* Best debut score: flagicon|Australia Karen Rolton, 96

Bowling

* Most career wickets: flagicon|New Zealand Nicola Browne, 8 and flagicon|England Jenny Gunn, 8
* Best figures in an innings: flagicon|New Zealand Amy Satterthwaite, 6/17
* Best figures on debut: flagicon|England Rosalie Birch, 4/27

Captaining

* Youngest captain: flagicon|India Mithali Raj 23 years 245 days
* Most matches as captain: flagicon|New Zealand Haidee Tiffen, 6 matches

By country

England

Batting

* Highest score: Charlotte Edwards, 64
* Highest batting average: Charlotte Edwards,, 40.00
* Most 50s: Charlotte Edwards, 2

Bowling

* Most wickets: Jenny Gunn, 8
* Best bowling figures: Jenny Gunn, 4/9

Australia

Batting

* Highest score: Karen Rolton, 96
* Highest batting average: Karen Rolton, 173.00
* Most 50s: Karen Rolton, 2

Bowling

* Most wickets: Lisa Sthalekar, 4
* Best bowling figures: Lisa Sthalekar , 2/15

New Zealand

Batting

* Highest score: Suzie Bates, 62
* Highest batting average: Suzie Bates, 34.00
* Most 50s: Suzie Bates and Aimee Mason, 1

Bowling

* Most wickets: Nicola Browne , 8
* Best bowling figures: Helen Watson, 3/13

India

Batting

* Highest score: Rumeli Dhar, 66*
* Highest batting average: Mithali Raj, 28.00
* Most 50s: Rumeli Dhar, 1

Bowling

* Most wickets: Jhulan Goswami, 2
* Best bowling figures: Jhulan Goswami, 2/14

outh Africa

Batting

* Highest score: Johmari Logtenberg, 29
* Highest batting average: Cri-zelda Brits, 22.00
* Most 50s: -

Bowling

* Most wickets: Susan Benade, Johmari Logtenberg and Sunette Loubser, 2
* Best bowling figures: Sunette Loubser, 2/30

Notes

ee also

External links

* Cricinfo [http://stats.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/records/index.html?class=10 Women's Twenty20 Internationals statistic pages]