An unparalleled show of dominance has occurred in cricket. An under-19 game in South Africa has witnessed a single player scoring runs entirely off her bat and giving her team victory. Shania Lee-Swart has created a unique cricket record.
A under-19 women’s match between Mpumalanga Under-19s v Easterns Under-19s in Pretoria saw a very rare performance Shania-Lee Swart, who smashed 160 out of 169 runs for Mpumalanga. The rest of the team scored 0. Extras were the next best scorers with nine.
Mpumalanga chose to bat and were reduced to 19/3 but Shania Lee-Swart shared a 50-run partnership with Yonella Vellolo to revive the innings. Swart’s contribution was 50 but Mpumalanga once again stuttered as they were reduced to 108/8. However, a 61-run partnership was strung between Swart and Nicholate Phiri as they ended on 169/8.
{{/usCountry}}Mpumalanga chose to bat and were reduced to 19/3 but Shania Lee-Swart shared a 50-run partnership with Yonella Vellolo to revive the innings. Swart’s contribution was 50 but Mpumalanga once again stuttered as they were reduced to 108/8. However, a 61-run partnership was strung between Swart and Nicholate Phiri as they ended on 169/8.
{{/usCountry}}Swart‘s contribution amounted to 95 percent of the team’s total, which is comfortably the highest in any format.
Close to Chris Gayle’s belligerence
Swart’s knock was the third-best score in Twenty20s after Chris Gayle’s 175 in 2013 and Zimbabwe’s Hamilton Masakadza’s 162 in 2016. Her knock featured 18 fours and 12 sixes, which meant she blasted 144 runs in boundaries alone.
Swart was not done. She picked up 2/21 in four overs as Mpumalanga defeated Easterns by 42 runs to clinch victory. For the Eastern’s team, they were ‘Swart’ed away by a single-handed show of dominance.