Deborah Hockley: A Legacy to Remember
Great individual performances have dotted the Women’s World Cup’s rich history.
We have seen some of the quality frequently emerging to the fore on the game’s grandest stage.
Deborah Ann Hockley is a prominent name in New Zealand One Day Internationals. She has scored the most runs in the World Cup for New Zealand. Hockley was a regular and reliable run-getter in One-Day Internationals, breaking milestones along the way by being the first woman to play 100 international matches and the first to score 4000 runs in the format.
Hockley’s 1501 runs in Women’s World Cups are the most by a single batter in history. Also, her record rally far expands as she is one of the five players who have scored 4 figures in ICC Competitions.
In total, she scored 1501 runs in 43 innings with an impressive average of 42.88. Also, she scored match decisive two centuries and 10 half centuries in her career.
In her final One Day International in 2000, she played a memorable innings. Her defining and constructive contribution helped New Zealand to post a total of 184 runs. It was a final match of the World Cup and consequently enough to defeat the inform Australian team.
As she was recently inducted in the hall of fame, a career spanning 21 years left its mark on New Zealand cricket history for eternity. She will always be known as an inspiring woman in the Cricketing world. Her legacy will continue to inspire the younger generation of cricketers.
She recalls her first memory as a mesmerising one. It was during the 1982 World Cup tour of Australia. She speaks of it as “My first World Cup I think I was 19, the 1982 World Cup in New Zealand. And I was 16 when I went on my first tour of Australia, and I managed to play my first Test match. And it was probably then when I realised how much cricket meant to me, when I was batting to save the match.”
Hockley appeared in five World Cups, but her finest performance came in India in 1997, when she scored 456 runs in seven innings at an average of 76.
Hockley’s exploits were nearly enough to help her team win the competition, as her 79 at the top of the order was the highest score in the final.