Rachael Heyhoe-Flint
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Rachael Heyhoe-Flint MBE (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.
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 over 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.
After retiring from cricket, Heyhoe-Flint has been a cricket journalist and broadcaster, and after-dinner speaker. She was awarded the 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 committee of the MCC. Outside cricket, she played as goalkeeper for the England national field hockey team in 1964. She was a director of Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. from 1997. She has been President of the Lady Taverners since 2001.
She was educated at Wolverhampton Girls' High School.
[edit] External links
- Player profile from Cricinfo
- Biography from 2002 on her honorary doctorate from University of Bradford
- MCC delivers first 10 maidens (BBC News, 16 March 1999)