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Australia’s Ellyse Perry has won the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year, the International Cricket Council announced today. The award has been introduced in memory of Heyhoe Flint, one of cricket’s legendary figures, a World Cup winner and ICC Cricket Hall of Famer, who passed in January 2017 at the age of 77.
Perry, the 27-year-old all-rounder from Sydney, scored an undefeated 213 and took three wickets in the one-off Ashes Test in Sydney and, accumulated 905 runs and took 22 wickets in 19 ODIs in the voting period. She also scored 28 runs and bagged four wickets in four Twenty20 Internationals.
Perry was an integral member of the Australia side which clinched the inaugural ICC Women’s Championship in November 2016 and also helped her side to reach the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 in England earlier this year.
Perry was voted by the voting academy, which included respected members of the media and broadcasters. New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite and Harmanpreet Kaur of India finished second and third, respectively.
This is Perry’s maiden ICC award since becoming the youngest Australian ever to play international cricket when she debuted in 2007 before her 17th birthday despite never having played a domestic match at the senior level.
She has now joined a select group of Australia women’s cricketers to have won the annual ICC awards. Karen Rolton and Shelley Nitschke won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award in 2006 and 2010, respectively, while Meg Lanning won the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year award in 2015. In 2014, Lanning had also won the ICC Women’s T20I Player of the Year award.
Reacting to the news, a delighted Perry said: “2017 has been a very special year for women’s cricket with many milestones reached, so it is a privilege and honour to receive the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award. I’d like to acknowledge the incredible work and legacy Rachael has left behind for the game, she is certainly missed.
“A special thanks to Cricket Australia for the incredible amount of support they provide to the Australian Women’s Cricket Team and the way in which they continue to lead the development of women’s sport in Australia.
“Also, my team mates and our support staff, thanks so much for making it so enjoyable and memorable to tour and represent Australia. And finally, to my family and friends for their continued and unwavering support, it is truly appreciated.”
ICC Chief Executive David Richardson congratulated Perry, saying: “On behalf of the ICC, I want to congratulate Ellyse for winning the inaugural Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the ICC Cricketer of the Year. This recognises the outstanding player of the year in memory of one of the true legends of the game. Rachael’s contribution to the game goes beyond the cricket field as she not only led her team to victory at the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1973 but also played a big part in helping organise it.
“Ellyse has been outstanding during the voting period. She is a worthy winner and an inspiration and a role model for millions of young and emerging players and I’m sure Ellyse will be honoured to be the first recipient of the award.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite has clinched the ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year Award, while Perry’s team-mate Beth Mooney has won the ICC Women’s T20I Player of the Year and ICC Women’s Emerging Player of the Year awards.
Satterthwaite is the second New Zealand player after Suzie Bates to have won an ICC award. Bates was declared the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2013, while in 2015, she became the first player to win both the ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year and ICC T20I Cricketer of the Year awards in the same year.
In the voting period, Satterthwaite scored 1,183 runs in 24 ODIs at an average of 84.5 with four centuries and five half-centuries, and also took 20 wickets. She beat the challenge from Perry and Alex Hartley of England, who finished second and third, respectively.
Commenting on the announcement, the 31-year-old from Christchurch said: “It is a great honour to be named as ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year. It is a pretty special moment and I guess, probably one of the moments to look back and reflect on the year and what it has been.
“The first six months were a lot of cricket and I really enjoyed myself in the middle. Everyone talks about the four hundreds, that is something that you need situations to go in your favour to hit something like this. It was pretty special at the same time, but I have enjoyed playing my cricket in the last 12 months and really enjoyed my time with the team. I think we have a good team which is gelling together and hitting nice momentum.”
Mooney was the leading T20I scorer with 255 runs at a strike-rate of 138.5 in seven matches in the voting period, while she also scored 492 runs in 14 ODIs. In the one-off Ashes Test, she scored 27. The qualification criteria for the ICC Emerging Player of the Year was that the player had to be under the age of 26 and not have played more than six ODIs and 10 T20Is prior to the performance period.
Prior to Mooney, Sarah Taylor (2012 and 2013), Lanning (2014), Stafanie Taylor (2015) and Suzie Bates (2016) have won the ICC T20I Player of the Year award, while the ICC Emerging Player of the Year has been introduced from this year in line with the ICC’s commitment to enhancing the importance and significance of women’s cricket as well as to recognise the best performing young talent.
The Windies’ pair of Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor finished second and third, respectively, in the T20I Player of the Year category.
Meanwhile, and for the first time this year, the ICC has introduced the ICC Fans Moment of the Year award, which will be chosen by cricket fans around the world who will get a chance to vote for their favourite moment of 2017.
ICC announces Women’s ODI and T20I teams of the Year
The International Cricket Council has announced the women’s ODI and T20I teams of the year with England’s Heather Knight named as captain of the 50-over side and Stafanie Taylor of the Windies appointed captain of the 20-over side.
The two sides were selected by the same panel, which had voted for the annual individual awards, and included Chloe Saltau, Mel Jones, Lisa Sthalekar (all Australia); Charlotte Edwards, Kalika Mehta, Alison Mitchell, Alan Wilkins (all England and Wales); Anjum Chopra, Snehal Pradhan (both India); Olivia Caldwell (New Zealand); Firdose Moonda, Natalie Germanos (both South Africa); Sa’adi Thawfeeq (Sri Lanka) and Ian Bishop, Fazeer Mohammad (Windies).
The panel took into consideration player performances from 21 September 2016 to date.
Knight was named captain after she inspired her side to a stunning ICC Women’s World Cup victory in front of a packed Lord’s on 23 July in what was a game-changer for women’s cricket. Whilst the world’s top-ranked T20I batter Taylor was given the nod as captain of the inaugural ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year, introduced as part of the ICC’s commitment to enhance the profile of women’s cricket and bring greater equity with the men’s game.
The ODI side comprises players from five countries, including two Australians (Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry), four England players (Tammy Beaumont, Heather Knight, Sarah Taylor and Alex Hartley), two Indians (Mithali Raj and Ekta Bisht), one New Zealander (Amy Satterthwaite) and two South Africans (Dane van Niekerk and Marizanne Kapp).
The side includes the world’s top four ranked batters in Raj, Perry, Lanning and Satterthwaite, while amongst the bowlers, Kapp is ranked number one, van Niekerk (ninth), Perry (13th), Bisht (14th) and Hartley (18th). Wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor is ranked 10th in the batting table, while her team-mate Beaumont is ranked 15th.
The T20I side is made up of three Australians (Beth Mooney, Megan Schutt, Amanda-Jade Wellington), one from England (Danni Wyatt), two from India (Harmanpreet Kaur and Ekta Bisht), two from New Zealand (Sophie Devine and Lea Tahuhu) and three from the Windies (Stafanie Taylor, Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews).
India’s left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht is the only cricketer to feature in both the ODI and T20I teams of the year. The 31-year-old from Uttarakhand is ranked 14th in ODIs and 12th in T20Is, and took 34 wickets in 19 matches and 11 wickets in seven T20Is in the period under consideration.
