Sophie Devine

Sophie Frances Monique Devine (born 1 September 1989) is a New Zealand sportswoman, who has represented New Zealand in both cricket for the New Zealand national women's cricket team (the White Ferns), and in field hockey as a member of the New Zealand women's national field hockey team (the Black Sticks Women).[2] She had since focused on cricket.[3] She is known for not wearing a helmet when batting, a rarity in 21st century cricket. In December 2017, she was named as one of the players in the ICC Women's T20I Team of the Year.[4]

Sophie Devine

Devine playing for Adelaide Strikers, 2018
Personal information
Full name	Sophie Frances Monique Devine
Born	(1989-09-01) 1 September 1989 Porirua, New Zealand
Batting	Right-handed[1]
Bowling	Right-arm medium[1]
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 102)	22 October 2006 v Australia
Last ODI	30 January 2020 v South Africa
T20I debut (cap 12)	18 October 2006 v Australia
Last T20I	2 March 2020 v Australia
Career statistics
Competition WODI WT20I Matches 105 89 Runs scored 2570 2327 Batting average 31.72 31.87 100s/50s 5/12 1/14 Top score 145 105 Balls bowled 3641 1380 Wickets 71 85 Bowling average 36.92 16.94 5 wickets in innings 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 Best bowling 3/24 4/22 Catches/stumpings 31/- 29/-
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 2 March 2020

In August 2018, she was awarded a central contract by New Zealand Cricket, following the tours of Ireland and England in the previous months.[5][6] In October 2018, she was named in New Zealand's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies.[7][8] Ahead of the tournament, she was named as the star of the team.[9]

In July 2020, Devine was appointed as the captain of the New Zealand women's cricket team on a full-time basis,[10] taking over from Amy Satterthwaite.[11]

Early life

Devine was born in Kenepuru hospital, Porirua, New Zealand, and grew up in Tawa, a northern suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, where she attended Greenacres School and Tawa College. She began to play cricket and hockey at the age of four and wanted to become an All Black. At Tawa College, she played cricket mainly in the boys' teams including representative Wellington age group teams and the Tawa College boys first 11 and she played in the boys premier hockey team for the Tawa club. In her last year at Tawa College, she was awarded the bowling 'wicket' for the most wickets in the season. A previous winner was Black Caps Mark Gillespie. She started playing Senior women's hockey at age 14 and made her first-class cricket debut as a 14-year-old. At the end of 2006, Devine shifted to Christchurch with her family when her father was relocated with his work. After attending Rangi Ruru Girls' School for her final high school year she attended the University of Canterbury completing a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Sociology.[12]

Career

Devine batting for New Zealand during the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Devine was selected for the New Zealand women's national cricket team, the White Ferns, at age 17 and became one of the youngest-ever members of the team. She was in a home economics class at Tawa College when the White Ferns coach, Steve Jenkin, gave her the news.[13]

In November 2018, she was named in the Adelaide Strikers' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season.[14][15] In March 2019, she was named as the ANZ International Women's T20 Player of the Year at the annual New Zealand Cricket awards.[16] She also took over as captain as Amy Satterthwaite went on maternity leave.[17]

In January 2020, she was named as the captain of New Zealand's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia.[18] On 10 February 2020, in the fourth WT20I match against South Africa, Devine scored her first century in a WT20I match.[19] In the same match, she became the first cricketer (male or female) to make five consecutive scores of fifty or more in T20Is.[20] In New Zealand's first match of the Women's T20 World Cup, against Sri Lanka, Devine became the first cricketer, male or female, to make six consecutive scores of fifty or more in T20I cricket.[21] She was the leading run-scorer for New Zealand in the tournament, with 132 runs in four matches.[22]

Records

On 11 July 2015, Devine broke the international record (men or women) for the fastest Twenty20 half century (from 18 balls), and fastest 70 runs (from 22 balls), and included scoring 32 off one over in the first match against India.[23] She holds the record for scoring the fastest ever fifty in Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) history (from 18 balls).[24][25] During a match against Pakistan at the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup, Devine became the first woman to hit nine sixes in Women's One-day International cricket.[26][27] In 2020, she became the first player (male or female) to score fifties in 6 consecutive T20Is.[28]

References

1. "Sophie Devine – New Zealand Cricket – Cricket Players and Officials – ESPN Cricinfo". ESPN Sports Media Ltd. Retrieved 16 April 2014.
2. "Sophie Devine – Profile". Hockey New Zealand. Retrieved 25 August 2012.
3. "Devine, the double international".
4. "Ellyse Perry declared ICC's Women's Cricketer of the Year". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
5. "Rachel Priest left out of New Zealand women contracts". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
6. "Four new players included in White Ferns contract list". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
7. "New Zealand women pick spin-heavy squads for Australia T20Is, World T20". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
8. "White Ferns turn to spin in big summer ahead". New Zealand Cricket. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
9. "Key Players: New Zealand". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
10. "Devine offered New Zealand captaincy on full-time basis". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
11. "Sophie Devine named permanent New Zealand captain". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
12. Sophie Devine sportsground.co.nz . Retrieved 28 January 2017
13. Sophie Devine profile, Cricket New Zealand, Retrieved 28 January 2017
14. "WBBL04: All you need to know guide". Cricket Australia. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
15. "The full squads for the WBBL". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
16. "Williamson named NZ Player of the Year at ANZ Awards". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
17. "Sophie Devine named new White Ferns captain, replacing Amy Satterthwaite". Stuff. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
18. "Lea Tahuhu returns to New Zealand squad for T20 World Cup". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
19. "Sophie Devine's maiden T20I century seals series for New Zealand". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
20. "New Zealand claim T20I series 3-1 as rain plays spoilsport". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
21. "Devine's sixth T20I fifty in a row seals New Zealand win". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
22. "ICC Women's T20 World Cup, 2019/20 - New Zealand Women: Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
23. Sophie Devine World Record T20i Half Century
24. "Records | Women's Twenty20 Internationals | Batting records | Fastest fifties | ESPN Cricinfo". Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
25. Watch: Kiwi cricketer slams fastest ever 50 NZ Herald Retrieved 24 August 2017
26. "Women's World Cup: Sophie Devine hits nine sixes to break world record". BBC. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
27. It's 'boom town' as world record six-hitter Sophie Devine smashes White Ferns to win stuff.co.nz Retrieved 24 August 2017

External links

Media related to Sophie Devine at Wikimedia Commons

• Sophie Devine at ESPNcricinfo
• Sophie Devine at CricketArchive (subscription required)