NEW ZEALAND (WELLINGTON) – In just 36 balls in the domestic Super Smash competition, New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine smashed the fastest hundred in women’s Twenty20 cricket on Thursday.
The 31-year-old hit nine sixes and nine fours in her innings out of 108 not out as her Wellington Blaze side trounced the Otago Sparks by 10 wickets.
She broke the previous record that had stood since 2010 — a 38-ball hundred from West Indian Deandra Dottin.
The all-rounder said she was nervous returning after 14 days in isolation following her return from neighbouring Australia.
“Whenever you have a bit of an extended break away from the game, you get nervous about (whether) you can come back into it,” she told Spark Sport.
“So it was just (nice) to spend some time in the middle and get a few out of the screws.
“Sometimes I can get a little bit carried away … and I get a bit over eager and play some rash shots so it was nice to stick to some decent cricket shots today and finish the job.”
During the game, one of her sixes grazed the cheek of a girl watching the match from the grass bank at the University Oval in Dunedin.
Once the match was over, Devine went to check on the girl, who had an ice pack placed against her face. But she was free from serious injury.