Belinda Clark: 11 interesting facts about the first double centurion in ODIs
Belinda Clark: 11 interesting facts about the first double centurion in ODIs
Born on September 10, 1970, Belinda Jane Clark, the former Australian cricketer, is arguably one of the best players of all time. Clarke was a rock solid person both on field and off the field for the Southern Stars. On her birthday, Abhishek Kumar pens down 11 important and interesting facts about one of the most successful woman cricketer of all time.
1. Sporting background
Belinda’s mother Margaret was a tennis player and she had won the New Castle Open ladies singles title in 1957 and 1963. Her father Allan was an inter-district cricketer in North New South Wales. Belinda played tennis and hockey in junior level but cricket was her first love.
2. First cricketer to score double century
The name which comes to mind when we talk about the first ODI double centurion, it is of Sachin Tendulkar. However, most people are unaware that it was actually Belinda Clark. Belinda scored the first double hundred in ODIs and that too way before Tendulkar did. It was 18th match of the Women’s World Cup 1997-98 when Clark plundered the Denmark bowlers single-handedly in Mumbai and scored 229 off just 155 balls. Amazingly, her innings of 229 included only a single six. Australia scored 412 in that match and won the match by 363 runs after Denmark were all out for just 49.
3. Best batting average among all double centurion
Six cricketers have scored double centuries in ODIs, including Belinda. Her best score of an unbeaten 229 might not be the highest but she has a better batting average than the other double centurion currently. Belinda ended her career with a healthy batting average of 47.49 while Tendulkar ended with 44.83. Virender Sehwag has an average of 35.05, Rohit Sharma —39.20, Chris Gayle — 37.33 and Martin Guptill — 41.16. She also holds the record of having the second best ODI average in Women’s cricket and with an average of 60.57; she has the fourth best average in World Cup tournaments.
4. Wisden Cricketer of the Year
After leading Australia Women to World Cup victory in 1997-98, Belinda was awarded with Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1998. She was also honoured with the Member of the Order of Australia in January 2000 on the Australia Day for her contribution in cricket through Australian Women’s cricket team.
5. Most ODIs as captain for Australia
Belinda was appointed the captain of the Australian women team in 1994 and led the side till her retirement in 2005. During this period, Belinda featured in four World Cup tournaments, out of which she played 23 matches as captain, which is the most by any women cricketer. Overall, she has led Australia in 101 ODIs.
6. Hall of fame
There are total of five women cricketers who have been inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. Rachael Heyhoe-Flint, fomer England Women’s captain, was the first to be inducted in 2010. In 2011, Belinda was inducted in the ICC Hall of Fame, thus becoming the first Australian women cricketer. Later in 2014, she was the first women cricketer to be inducted in the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
7. Most catches in World Cup
Belinda took 12 catches from her 29 World Cup appearances. She features second on the list of Australian women cricketers after Denise Annetts and the sixth women cricketer overall.
8. Ricky Ponting of women’s cricket
Belinda can be easily called the ‘Ricky Ponting of women’s cricket’, having scored most ODI runs for Australia. She is the third women cricketer with most runs scored in her career. Belinda has scored 4,844 runs and is currently the top run-scorer for Australia in World Cup with 1,151 runs.
9. Most successful women captain
Belinda has a Bradmanesque record as a captain in World Cup matches. From her 23 World Cup matches, Australia won 21 out of them with one no result and one loss, which came in the final of 2000-01 World Cup against New Zealand. She also has the best win record in ODIs. From 101 matches, Belinda has registered 83 wins and 17 losses for Southern Stars. With her 95.45% win records in World Cup and 83% in ODIs; she stands as the most successful captain in women’s cricket.
10. Second longest serving period
Belinda made her first appearance in international cricket on January 1991 and played till September 2005. With her 14-year career in international cricket, she is the second Australian woman to have the longest cricketing career. Sharon Tredrea (1973-1988) has the longest cricketing career for Australia in international cricket.
11. Impressive Test record
Making her debut against India at Sydney in 1991, Belinda played 15 Tests for Australia and scored 919 runs at almost 46. She has two hundreds and six fifties to her name.
(Abhishek Kumar is cricket devotee currently staffing with Criclife.com. He can be followed at abhicricket.kumar and abhishekkr2593)