Flashback: The only bowler to take four wickets for 0 runs in international cricket

We always remember some of the great bowling performances when bowlers have taken a five-wicket haul or have returned with excellent figures. But do you know that there is only one bowler in international cricket who has taken 4 wickets in an innings without giving a single run? She is the former captain of the South African Women’s team Dane van Niekerk who displayed incredible skills against the West Indies in Women’s ODI World Cup 2017.

South Africa won the toss in this match and elected to field first. The West Indies team got completely bamboozled against the Proteas bowling and failed to even cross the 50-run mark. They got dismissed for just 48 runs in 25.2 overs. Chedean Nation was their top scorer who made 26 runs off 53 balls.

For South Africa, Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk bowled wonderfully picking up 4 wickets each. Marizanne Kapp gave only 14 runs in her 7 over spell including 2 maiden overs. On the other hand, captain Dane van Niekerk returned with incredible figures of 3.2-3-0-4. She became the first-ever player to pick 4 wickets for 0 runs in International cricket. This record is still intact and being held by her.

Apart from these two bowlers, Shabnim Ismail took 2 wickets for 16 runs in her 2 overs. Four of the West Indies batters got out for a duck in the first innings. In fact, only one of their players could cross the single-digit mark.

In response to this total, South Africa did not find any difficulty in chasing. They won the game in only 6.2 overs by 10 wickets. Opener Laura Wolvaardt scored 19 runs off 22 balls while Lizelle Lee smashed 29 runs off only 16 balls. Marizanne Kapp was chosen as player of the match in this game particularly because she took the majority of wickets of top-order batters.