Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe-Flint,
OBE,
DL (born 11 June 1939, in
Wolverhampton) is probably the best known
female cricketer in
England. She was a member of the
English women's cricket team from 1960 to 1982. She was
captain of England from 1966 to 1978, and was unbeaten in six
Test series. She was captain when England won the inaugural
Women's Cricket World Cup, held in England in 1973.
Cricket career
Heyhoe Flint was chiefly a
batsman. She played in 22
Women's Test cricket matches, with a
batting average of 45.54 in 38
innings. She scored three Test centuries, including her highest score of 179, a world record when she scored it against
Australia at
the Oval in 1976, earning a draw to save the series by batting for more than 8½ hours. She was captain of the first England women's team to play at
Lord's in the 1976
Women's Ashes series. She also hit the first
six in a women's Test match in 1963, also at the Oval against Australia. After being replaced as England captain in 1978, she played her last Test match in the 1979 series against
West Indies, but went on to play in the 1982 Women's Cricket World Cup.
Post-cricket career
Since retiring from cricket, Heyhoe Flint has been a cricket journalist and broadcaster, and after-dinner speaker. She was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1972, and was one of the first ten women admitted to the
MCC in 1999, as an honorary life member. In 2004, she was the first woman elected to the full...
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