Five breakout stars of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023
But it wasn’t just the established world stars who made a splash in South Africa.
We take a look at five players who enjoyed breakout tournaments.
Marufa Akter – Bangladesh
One of the stars of the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup back in January, Marufa showed that she is capable of making a similar impact at senior level with a string of excellent performances.
One of the quickest bowlers on show, she was a constant wicket-taking threat in the early Powerplay overs and added a spark up-front to Bangladesh’s attack.
She took all three wickets in the Powerplay against Sri Lanka in a brilliant individual display that gave Bangladesh a real shot of defending 126 in their group match, and against Australia she picked up the prized scalp of Beth Mooney.
Still just 18 years old, Marufa’s talent is hugely exciting.
Orla Prendergast – Ireland
Ireland’s 20-year-old all-rounder stood out in the team’s campaign in South Africa to such an extent that she was recognised in the ICC Team of the Tournament.
She scored 109 runs including an outstanding 61 against West Indies, was excellent in the field, and played a crucial role with the ball as Ireland’s main strike pace bowler.
Prendergast’s three wickets in the tournament were Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma and Sophia Dunkley – not a bad set of scalps.
Muneeba Ali – Pakistan
Pakistan’s bespectacled batter Muneeba Ali has a lot of international experience under her belt in the T20 format, but announced herself as a top-level player at this tournament.
Muneeba’s brilliant century against Ireland saw her make good on her obvious talent, and it will be fascinating to see what the future holds for such a skilled batter.
Her knock of 102 was the World Cup’s highest individual score, but she will have been disappointed not to have built on that, suffering two low scores in her final two tournament appearances.
Harshitha Samarawickrama – Sri Lanka
Some of the weight will have been lifted off the shoulders of Chamari Athapaththu thanks to the performances of her younger opening partner at this tournament
Samarawickrama stood up when her team needed her in what was, at the time, a massive match for Sri Lanka.
Faced with chasing down 127 against Bangladesh to make it two wins from two in Group 1, the Lankans lost three in the Powerplay as Marufa ripped through the top order. But Samarawickrama survived, built the platform for the successful chase, and then accelerated to help relieve the pressure of a rising required run rate.
It was an outstanding knock and she fittingly hit the winning runs to the boundary, finishing unbeaten on a match-defining 69* from 50 balls.
The 24-year-old was excellent against eventual champions Australia too, top-scoring to give her team something to work with.
Karishma Ramharack – West Indies
West Indies have a really useful player on their hands in right-arm off-spinner Ramharack.
The 28-year-old is relatively inexperienced at international level, but already looks a lock in the first-choice bowling attack for the West Indies, keeping things extremely tight and offering a decent threat with her clever spin bowling.
She took five wickets in the tournament at an average of 10, but it was how tough she was to score off that helped Ramharack stand apart. Of front-line bowlers, only Sophie Ecclestone had a superior economy rate over the course of the tournament.
Her quality performance earned her a place in the ICC Team of the Tournament.
