Born on 29th September 1939 in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales, is former Test and ODI player for England and representative of the International XI at the first World Cup, Derryth Lynne Thomas.
A right-hand batter and off-break bowler, Lynne made her Test debut for England in 1966 against the visiting New Zealand team led by Trish McKelvey. Lynne was selected in the second Test, at Edgbaston, and scored 58 runs in the first innings and 11 not out in the second. At the Oval she and scored 42 runs batting at number seven. It was the lowest she would bat for the rest of her Test career.
Ten years, ten Tests. In a decade long career Lynne scored 610 runs at 40.66 with a top score of 90. She is second on the list of most Test runs without a century. Her highest score was made at Edgbaston in 1976 against Australia in the second Test, opening the batting with Enid Bakewell who made 77. Both openers were runout.
In 1973 Lynne made her ODI debut for England in the World Cup, playing against the International XI. And what a debut. She sure liked batting with Enid. Runout again, but not before she had scored 134. Enid scored 101 not out in what was a 246 run opening stand, a record that stood for 26 years. (258 by Reshma Gandhi and Mithali Raj in 1999).
Only five women have scored a century on debut in ODI cricket. The four players just mentioned, the other being Australia’s Nicole Bolton.
That century was Lynne’s only one, but she also scored three half centuries in her 24 match career that spanned two World Cups. It was in the second of those tournaments, in New Zealand in 1981/82 that Lynne was given the captaincy of the International XI, half of her ODI career. She scored 821 runs at 45.61. She also took 6 wickets at 27.66. It should be mentioned that one of those ODIs for England was on 4th August 1976, the first time women’s cricket was played at Lord’s.
Lynne Thomas played Badminton for her county and also represented Wales at hockey.
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