Cathryn Fitzpatrick

While juggling her full-time job as a waste collector and later a postwoman, Fitzpatrick represented Australia in cricket on 124 occasions.^[6] She made her international debut in 1991 and went on to play 13 Test matches, taking 60 wickets (the second-most by an Australian woman, only behind Betty Wilson) at an average of 19.11.^[7]

Fitzpatrick also played 109 One Day Internationals, taking 180 wickets (the most by any woman until surpassed by Jhulan Goswami in May 2017) at an average of 16.79.^[8][9] She was a member of the Australian team that won the Women's Cricket World Cup in 1997 and 2005.^[10][11]

On 25 February 2006, Fitzpatrick became the oldest woman to take a five-wicket haul in ODI history, at the age of 37 years and 358 days.^[12] In March 2007, she announced her retirement from international cricket and also brought her domestic career with Victoria to an end after taking 148 wickets in 103 WNCL matches.^[13]

From May 2012 to March 2015, Fitzpatrick served as head coach of the Australian women's team, overseeing three successful world championship campaigns.^[14]

In 2019, Fitzpatrick was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.^[15] Later that year, she was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[16]

Due to limitations of technological resources in her playing tenure, Fitzpatrick's top and average speeds are estimates rather than precise figures. Thorough eye-witness testimony agrees she was the world's fastest female bowler during her prime years,^[17][18][19] while sporadic measurements indicated her quickest delivery was at least 125 km/h.^[20][21][22] This evaluation holds up both impressively and credibly compared with modern women's cricket, which is characterised by increased professional standards - as of 2019, the fastest current bowlers were South Africa's Shabnim Ismail and New Zealand's Lea Tahuhu, who were officially recorded at speeds of 128 km/h and 126 km/h respectively.^[23]