Rachael Haynes

A prolific all-rounder who plays for the Australian national women’s cricket team, Rachael Haynes is a left-handed batter and a left-arm medium pacer. An asset for the Australian cricket team, Rachael’s ability to lead the side and be the leader in the dressing room is what has made her one of the greats of the Australian team.

Born on boxing day, her earliest cricketing memories were bowling at the door of her dog’s kennel in the backyard. Hailing from Melbourne, Rachael started her career in the Women’s National Cricket League during the 2005-06 season and she went on to become a key figure for the Melbourne side. She skippered the side to two back-to-back WT20 titles in her first two teams.

Her leadership skills were soon acknowledged and she was named as the skipper for the Australia youth team. After guiding the youth team to major upsets against the Australian and English senior team, she was selected for the first time in the senior side for the England tour. On her debut, she played a masterful inning of 98 runs until she was dismissed in the final over of the first day in that match as the nervous nineties caught up with her.

In 2011-12 Haynes moved north and joined New South Wales. She had a major impact on the team that summer, especially in the WNCL Final. Haynes was standing at the other end as NSW lost two early wickets in the decider against Victoria. Haynes mounted a fight-back which saw her post 156 runs - the first-ever century in a WNCL Finals match.

Haynes was promoted to vice-captain of the NSW squad and played a key role in the team winning both the WNCL and WT20 in the 2014-15 season. After establishing herself in the Australian team, she led the Aussies to World Cup and WT20I championships. Haynes was the leading run-getter in the 2013 World Cup and cemented her spot in the national squad.

Haynes experienced a drop in her form during the 2013 Ashes series when she managed just 33 runs in four innings. After a disappointing Ashes loss, she was sidelined from the squad for almost three and a half years.

After three-and-a-half years out of the Australian team, Haynes was recalled in February 2017 and subsequently named in the Australian Women's 2017 World Cup squad. Her remarkable comeback continued when she was named acting captain for the 2017-18 Ashes, filling in for injured Meg Lanning.

The left-handed batter was one of the first to sign for the Thunders in the inaugural edition of WBBL in 2005. In the third season of BBL, She posted 426 runs in 15 matches making her the leading run-scorer of the Thunders team. She earned the Alex Blackwell medal as Thunder’s player of the tournament.

In 2018, Haynes was vice-captain of her national side which went all the way to win their fourth ICC World T20 championship title. Haynes’ career highlight was defeating India by 85 runs in the final of the T20 Women’s World Cup at her home ground making it a fourth successful campaign T20 World Cup campaign. In the recently concluded WBBL, she was formidable at the top order amassing 337 runs in 15 innings.

(As of March 2021)