ESPNcricinfo Awards 2018 Women's batting nominees: make mine a hundred
Our nominees all chalked up centuries - one of them in a T20
Annesha Ghosh
24-Jan-2019
Mandhana: move over Harmanpreet • BCCI
Click here for the women's bowling nominees
Smriti Mandhana
135 v South Africa
second ODI, Kimberley
The ICC Women's Cricketer and ODI Player of 2018 described this career-best 135 as "quite satisfying". In a year in which she broke limited-overs records, Mandhana, on her first tour of South Africa, became the fastest India woman to three hundreds, reaching the landmark off 116 balls in this innings, after which she took 34 runs off 13 balls. Mandhana anchored two stands of 50, and had a 134-run partnership with Harmanpreet Kaur, handing South Africa a 178-run drubbing and India a series win on their first assignment since their breakout 2017 World Cup campaign.
135 v South Africa
second ODI, Kimberley
The ICC Women's Cricketer and ODI Player of 2018 described this career-best 135 as "quite satisfying". In a year in which she broke limited-overs records, Mandhana, on her first tour of South Africa, became the fastest India woman to three hundreds, reaching the landmark off 116 balls in this innings, after which she took 34 runs off 13 balls. Mandhana anchored two stands of 50, and had a 134-run partnership with Harmanpreet Kaur, handing South Africa a 178-run drubbing and India a series win on their first assignment since their breakout 2017 World Cup campaign.
Alyssa Healy
133 v India
third ODI, Vadodara
In her 136th international match, the ODI series-ender against India, Healy made her maiden international century, becoming the first Australia wicketkeeper to make an ODI hundred. Riding on three reprieves, Healy, the ICC Women's T20I Player of the Year, clubbed 14 runs off Shikha Pandey in the eighth over, and then sent India's field placements into a tailspin with the 18-run 38th over, also against Pandey. Her hundred hoisted Australia to their highest total against India, and sealed the series 3-0.
133 v India
third ODI, Vadodara
In her 136th international match, the ODI series-ender against India, Healy made her maiden international century, becoming the first Australia wicketkeeper to make an ODI hundred. Riding on three reprieves, Healy, the ICC Women's T20I Player of the Year, clubbed 14 runs off Shikha Pandey in the eighth over, and then sent India's field placements into a tailspin with the 18-run 38th over, also against Pandey. Her hundred hoisted Australia to their highest total against India, and sealed the series 3-0.
Danielle Wyatt
124 v India
Tri-Nation T20 Series, Mumbai
One match after she scored the first T20I hundred by an England woman player, Wyatt blunted India with her second T20I century, in a record chase of 199. Built on 15 fours and five sixes, Wyatt's century was in the top five fastest hundreds in women's T20Is, and upstaged Smriti Mandhana's half-century, the fastest by an India woman. Wyatt figured in two brisk fifty stands in her innings, which set up a comfortable seven-wicket win, and later a final against Australia.
124 v India
Tri-Nation T20 Series, Mumbai
One match after she scored the first T20I hundred by an England woman player, Wyatt blunted India with her second T20I century, in a record chase of 199. Built on 15 fours and five sixes, Wyatt's century was in the top five fastest hundreds in women's T20Is, and upstaged Smriti Mandhana's half-century, the fastest by an India woman. Wyatt figured in two brisk fifty stands in her innings, which set up a comfortable seven-wicket win, and later a final against Australia.
Chamari Atapattu
115 v India
third ODI, Katunayake
Sri Lanka's bid to break their ten-match winless streak in ODIs against India - spanning more than five and a half years - bore fruit thanks to a special effort from their captain, Atapattu, who made her maiden hundred against an Asian side, to headline Sri Lanka's highest successful ODI chase. It was No. 9 Kavisha Dilhari's seven-ball 12 that sealed the final-over victory, but that Sri Lanka were in the hunt to deny India a 3-0 clean sweep, was largely down to Atapattu, who held one end up till the 42nd over, shepherding a century opening stand and a fifty partnership for the second wicket.
115 v India
third ODI, Katunayake
Sri Lanka's bid to break their ten-match winless streak in ODIs against India - spanning more than five and a half years - bore fruit thanks to a special effort from their captain, Atapattu, who made her maiden hundred against an Asian side, to headline Sri Lanka's highest successful ODI chase. It was No. 9 Kavisha Dilhari's seven-ball 12 that sealed the final-over victory, but that Sri Lanka were in the hunt to deny India a 3-0 clean sweep, was largely down to Atapattu, who held one end up till the 42nd over, shepherding a century opening stand and a fifty partnership for the second wicket.
Harmanpreet Kaur
103 v New Zealand
World T20, Providence
Sixteen months on from her epochal 171 not out in the World Cup, Harmanpreet delivered an encore. This time against New Zealand, in the first game of the first standalone women's World T20. India were 40 for 3 towards the end of the Powerplay when Harmanpreet walked in and proceeded to turn 5 off 13 into 50 off 33 into 100 off 49 balls. The languid flick towards square leg that brought up the first T20I century by an Indian woman sat in stark contrast to the eight gigantic sixes she had smashed. India got to 194 - the highest total in the tournament.
103 v New Zealand
World T20, Providence
Sixteen months on from her epochal 171 not out in the World Cup, Harmanpreet delivered an encore. This time against New Zealand, in the first game of the first standalone women's World T20. India were 40 for 3 towards the end of the Powerplay when Harmanpreet walked in and proceeded to turn 5 off 13 into 50 off 33 into 100 off 49 balls. The languid flick towards square leg that brought up the first T20I century by an Indian woman sat in stark contrast to the eight gigantic sixes she had smashed. India got to 194 - the highest total in the tournament.
Click here for the women's bowling nominees
Annesha Ghosh is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo