ESPNcricinfo Awards 2024 women's T20 leagues batting winner: Lizelle Lee's record-breaking spree

Lizelle Lee

150 not out off 75 balls vs Perth Scorchers, WBBL

This was as destructive a T20 innings as you could wish to see. A couple of factors made it even more impressive: Hurricanes were 16 for 2 in the third over, having lost Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Nicola Carey in consecutive deliveries, and Lizelle Lee herself was coming into the game having made 71 runs in five innings during the competition with a top score of 38.

Lee started to take charge in the fourth over - the last of the powerplay - when she sent Ebony Hoskin for consecutive sixes, beginning what would become a world record tally of 12.

Lee's innings included a 51-ball century, brought up fittingly with a six over long-on against Lilly Mills, and she would finish with 73% of Hurricanes' total off her own bat. The splits for each of her fifties read: 29 balls, 22 balls and 24 balls. It was also her fourth WBBL century, and she'd score another in her next match, putting her level with Alyssa Healy for the most in the competition.

To further emphasise Lee's dominance, a stand of 114 off 65 balls for the third wicket included just 14 off 19 balls from her partner, Elyse Villani.

Key moment

In the tenth over, Lee was dropped on 63 at backward point off the impressive Chloe Ainsworth. Hurricanes were already handily placed at the time on 83 for 2 but from there the game ran away from Scorchers at a rate of knots. In the next over Lee took consecutive sixes off Amy Edgar and in the blink of an eye had her century.

The numbers

1 No other batter has a higher individual score in the WBBL

12 Sixes hit by Lee, the most in an innings in all women's T20s, beating Grace Harris' 11

5 Lee's 150 not out is the fifth-highest score in all women's T20s and highest by a batter from a Full Member nation

What they said

"I was quite angry at myself just after the last shot because I didn't know where to hit it and ended with a dab."
- Lizelle Lee on not being able to end her innings with a boundary

The closest contender

Harmanpreet Kaur
95 not out, vs Gujarat Giants, WPL, Delhi
Harmanpreet showed all her class by guiding a remarkable run chase with a brutal 95 off 48 balls. Mumbai needed 91 off 36 balls when Harmanpreet took down the Giants' attack, making the most of a crucial dropped catch by Phoebe Litchfield when she had 40 and 70 were needed off 26. The next two overs would cost 18 and 24 in a stunning turnaround.

ESPNcricinfo Awards 2024