Amy Hunter: A record-setting teenager
“Records are meant to be broken. I was 16 then. Glad it’s finally broken. Many congratulations to Amy and I hope it is a start of many great things for her. Wishing her the best.” This was the ever-sporting Mithali Raj’s response when her long-standing record of being the youngest batswoman to score a One Day International hundred was broken by the Irish teenager, Amy Hunter. Mithali Raj was 16 years and 205 days old when she set the record, ironically against Ireland, with an unbeaten knock of 114 runs. Amy Hunter scored an unbeaten 121 runs off just 127 deliveries in the fourth ODI against Zimbabwe on a day when she turned sixteen to erase Mithali’s record by 205 days.
Amy’s performance was all the more creditable as the achievement came away from home in Harare. In men’s cricket, Shahid Afridi of Pakistan was 16 years and 217 days old when he scored 102 runs against Sri Lanka in 1996, to become the youngest-ever batsman to score an ODI hundred. Thus, Amy Hunter’s achievement becomes the best ever by any cricket player, male or female.
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Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar has been associated with The Teenager Today for more than 50 years; initially as a reader and later as a contributor on varied topics. Having worked in the Indian Air Force and in India’s oldest company, Forbes & Company Limited, he is now practising as a lawyer in Nainital High Court.