From Bath, Somerset, Anya Shrubsole is an England Test, ODI and T20I player and one of the best swing bowlers in the world.
Playing competitive cricket since the age of twelve she turned out for Somerset in Division Two in July 2004 where she took 2-20 in her first outing. Not bad scalps either: former England players Debbie Stock and Claire Taylor.
By 2006 Anya is playing First Division, by 2007 added to the England Development Squad and by August 2008 has made both her ODI and T20 debut for England – at age sixteen. In her T20 debut she took 3-19 against South Africa.
Before long she is a mainstay in the England team, a reliable opening bowler, naggingly accurate and in possession of a lethal in-swinger.In 2013, a rarity – a women’s Test match. Anya makes her debut against the old enemy, Australia. Her first wicket was Rachael Haynes and along with Sarah Elliott, two wickets in the first innings. In the second, the wicket of another debutant: Meg Lanning. Anya has played in seven Test matches, taking 18 wickets with a best of 4-51 against Australia at the WACA in 2014.
In the T20 format, Anya’s reliability to keep the runs down and take crucial wickets is a key factor behind England’s success. In 79 matches she has taken 102 wickets at 15.55 with a best against New Zealand in 2012 at Wellington of 5-11 – the best bowling by an England woman in this format.Her first World Cup match in the ODI format was against Pakistan at North Sydney Oval in 2009 at seventeen. She figured in the 203 World Cup where she took 13 wickets at 7.23 (!!) with a best of 5-17.
Nobody will ever forget Anya’s performance in the 2017 World Cup final. It was India’s match, surely, with 3/191 chasing 228. It was only a matter of time. Heather Knight tossed the ball to Anya Shrubsole and the rest is history. “Hoof” was devastating as she carved a way through the India batting, taking 6-46 and bowling England to victory. Has there been a finer performance by a bowler in a final?
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