The Wisden Almanack has named the Woman Cricketer in the World since 2014. The almanack has now retrospectively listed the winners since 1973, when the first Women’s World Cup was played. The feature, by Lawrence Booth, and the list, by Steven Lynch, originally appeared in the 2025 edition of the Wisden Almanack.
Lawrence Booth
Last year, this Almanack completed its retrospective list of winners for the new Wisden Trophy, introduced in 2023 for the best individual Test performance by a man or woman in the calendar year. Among the post-war recipients were Betty Wilson (1958), Mary Duggan (1963) and Enid Bakewell (1969). And it is the irrepressible Bakewell who is the first winner of a new backdated list: Wisden’s Leading Woman Cricketer in the World, handed out in real time since 2014.
Women have been playing Tests since December 1934, but their infrequency – barely one a year, on average, for the next four decades – meant we needed a more meaningful starting point. The obvious candidate was 1973, when the first women’s World Cup added ODIs to the fixture list, and urgency to the cricket. And Bakewell? She scored two hundreds that summer, against an International XI at Hove and, in the World Cup decider, against Australia at Edgbaston, where she also took two cheap wickets.
There are four blank years: the absence of any Tests or ODIs in 1974, 1980, 1981 and 1983 tells a story about the struggle for acceptance. In the meantime, Bakewell won again: in 1979, her Test averages with bat and ball were 103 and 11. She is one of 12 two-time winners, the most recent being India’s Smriti Mandhana, whose record-breaking 2024 (her 1,659 international runs were the most in a calendar year) came six years after her first triumph.
Seven of that dozen are Australians, of whom two defended their title: Lindsay Reeler, who followed a prolific 1987 with a dominant World Cup in 1988; and Karen Rolton, who averaged 97 in ODIs in 2004, and 51 in 2005, when her left-arm seamers took 19 wickets at 17. In 2001, an unbeaten 209 at Headingley was pipped by team-mate Cathryn Fitzpatrick’s 17 Ashes wickets at ten. And Rolton was denied a hat-trick in 2006 only by Indian seamer Jhulan Goswami.
There are 21 winners from Australia, 12 from England, seven from India, five from New Zealand, two from West Indies (Stafanie Taylor twice) and one (Lizelle Lee) from South Africa. Some choices were easy. In 1984, England’s Jan Brittin scored 258 ODI runs for twice out, and averaged 75 in Tests. In 1996, Debbie Hockley – New Zealand’s only two-time winner – averaged 94 in Tests and 82 in ODIs. In 2009, Claire Taylor was Player of the Tournament in two World Cups, as England won both. And in 2013, Stafanie Taylor combined 707 runs and 32 wickets at 16 in ODIs with 313 runs and 11 wickets at 14 in T20Is.
The most pleasing surprise was New Zealand seamer Sarah Tsukigawa, great-granddaughter of a Japanese sailor who settled in Dunedin at the end of the 19th century after falling out with his ship’s captain, and spent 35 years working on the South Island. In 2007, Tsukigawa was the leading wicket-taker in ODIs with 21 at 20, and also scored 354 runs at 32, with all but one of her 15 games against either Australia or England.
Leading Woman Cricketer in the World, 1973-2013
Steven Lynch
1973 Enid Bakewell (England)
Hit 264 runs in the first World Cup, including 118 in the decider against Australia.
1974 No international cricket.
1975 Sharon Tredrea (Australia)
Seamer who shook New Zealand with seven wickets in the year’s only Test.
1976 Rachael Heyhoe Flint (England)
Scored 350 in three Tests v Australia, including 179 in over eight hours at The Oval.
1977 Shantha Rangaswamy (India)
A captain’s innings of 108 in a Test against New Zealand (the next-highest score was 18).
1978 Sharon Tredrea (Australia)
Six wickets at seven (and 1.68 per over) as Australia won the second World Cup, in India.
1979 Enid Bakewell (England)
Carried her bat for 118*, then took 10-75, in a Test against West Indies at Edgbaston.
1980 No international cricket.
1981 No international cricket.
1982 Lyn Fullston (Australia)
Left-arm spinner: 23 wickets at 12 as Australia won the third World Cup, in New Zealand.
1983 No international cricket.
1984 Jan Brittin (England)
Scored Test and ODI centuries against New Zealand, and 112 in a Test in Australia.
1985 Jill Kennare (Australia)
Scored a Test hundred and two in ODIs (on successive days at Melbourne) against England.
1986 Gill McConway (England)
Slow left-armer who had figures of 42–27–34–7 as India made 374 at Worcester.
1987 Lindsay Reeler (Australia)
Classy opener who scored 374 runs at 62 in ODIs, and 241 at 80 in three Tests in England.
1988 Lindsay Reeler (Australia)
Most runs in the World Cup with 448 at 149, including 59* in the final.
1989 Jo Chamberlain (England)
Left-arm seamer: ten wickets at 4.50 in the inaugural European Cup.
1990 Debbie Hockley (New Zealand)
Leading scorer in three Tests against Australia with 213 at 71, plus 87 in three ODIs.
1991 Belinda Haggett (Australia)
Made 339 at 84 in three Tests against India, and 150 in three ODIs against New Zealand.
1992 Denise Annetts (Australia)
Hit 148* in a Test v England, and 100* in the final of an ODI tri-series.
1993 Carole Hodges (England)
Hundreds v Australia and Ireland as England won World Cup, and a hat-trick v Denmark.
1994 Emily Drumm (New Zealand)
In the year’s only internationals, 91 runs and eight cheap wickets against Australia.
1995 Sangita Dabir (India)
Left-arm spinner: 264 runs and ten wickets in four Tests, 108 runs and ten wickets in ODIs.
1996 Debbie Hockley (New Zealand)
Piled up 530 runs in Tests and ODIs in England, plus 126 in three ODIs against Australia.
1997 Belinda Clark (Australia)
Made 970 ODI runs, including a record 229* v Denmark as Australia won the World Cup.
1998 Jo Broadbent (Australia)
Made 319 Test runs at 159, including 200 at Guildford, plus 287 at 71 in the ODIs.
1999 Cathryn Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Perhaps the fastest female bowler yet seen, she took 11 wickets at nine in her five ODIs.
2000 Charmaine Mason (Australia)
Seamer: 36 ODI wickets at 11, including 17 in the World Cup.
2001 Cathryn Fitzpatrick (Australia)
Took 17 wickets at ten in two Test wins in England: 5-29 at Leeds, 5-31 at Shenley.
2002 Neetu David (India)
Slow left-armer: 21 wickets in ODIs and 14 in three Tests.
2003 Lucy Pearson (England)
Left-arm seamer: 24 Test wickets at 13 included 11-107 in Sydney, plus 13 at 21 in ODIs.
2004 Karen Rolton (Australia)
Started with 102*, 60* and 80* in ODIs against New Zealand; in all, made 682 at 97.
2005 Karen Rolton (Australia)
Scored 664 runs at 51 in ODIs, and 185 at 46 in Tests – plus 96* in Australia’s first T20.
2006 Jhulan Goswami (India)
Lanky seamer who led the way in Tests (19 wickets at 12) and ODIs (23 at 23).
2007 Sarah Tsukigawa (New Zealand)
Seamer: leading wicket-taker in ODIs with 21 at 20, and also scored 354 runs at 32.
2008 Charlotte Edwards (England)
Scored 768 runs in all, with 494 in ODIs – in which she also picked up 16 wickets.
2009 Claire Taylor (England)
Player of the tournament as England won both World Cups: 633 runs in all.
2010 Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
Led the way in ODIs with 432 runs at 72, and added 299 in T20s.
2011 Charlotte Edwards (England)
Amassed 864 runs: 413 in ODIs, 309 in T20s, and 114* and 28 in the Sydney Test.
2012 Meg Lanning (Australia)
Led the way in ODIs with 484 runs at 69, and added 341 in T20s.
2013 Stafanie Taylor (West Indies)
Topped 1,000 international runs: 707 at 39 in ODIs, 313 at 29 in T20s, plus 43 wickets.
Leading Woman Cricketer in the World, 2014-2025
2014 Meg Lanning (Australia)
2015 Suzie Bates (New Zealand)
2016 Ellyse Perry (Australia)
2017 Mithali Raj (India)
2018 Smriti Mandhana (India)
2019 Ellyse Perry (Australia)
2020 Beth Mooney (Australia)
2021 Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
2022 Beth Mooney (Australia)
2023 Nat Sciver-Brunt (England)
2024 Smriti Mandhana (India)
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