Megan Schutt

Some Lesser Known Facts About Megan Schutt

• Megan Schutt is an Australian cricketer who plays as a medium-fast bowler for Australia women’s national cricket team. She plays for South Australian Scorpions in the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) and Adelaide Strikers in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). Schutt became the first bowler for Australia Women to take a hat-trick in WT20Is on 26 March 2018. In 2019, she became the first Australian bowler to take a hat-trick in WODIs. The feat made her the first female bowler to take two hat tricks in international cricket. ^[6]cricket.com.au In 2023, she represented Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural season of WPL.

• Megan Schutt was born into a Christian family. ^[7]cricket.com.au

• She grew up actively participating in sports day competitions at school. She talked about the same in an interview and said,
  

  Sports day was my favourite day because I’d kick arse. I’d beat the boys, I’d beat the girls. I think I still hold the shot-put record at Wirreanda.”

• She spent her childhood in Hackham West, where she begin her cricketing journey at 11 when she filled in for someone in a Seaford club match. Recalling the incident in an interview, she said,
  

  We used to play cricket on the road and we’d use whatever we could find — a tennis racquet, whatever — and one day, they needed someone to fill in for a club game at Seaford. In that game, I got bowled first ball, but I took a wicket with my first ball, too.”

• While playing the match, she was spotted by someone who invited her to join a new girls’ team. Later, a SAPSASA scout discovered her, and soon, she started joined the Flinders University Cricket Club.

• At 13, she started playing district cricket for Sturt Cricket Club, where she made acquaintance with the Australian cricketer Shelley Nitschke.

• Thereafter, Schutt moved along the South Australian state pathway through the U-15, U-17, and U-19 teams.

• At 16, she came out of the closet and revealed her sexuality to her brother, but she maintained the façade at school and dated many guys. At that time, his brother was just 12. In an interview, she revealed that one of her boyfriends, in her senior years, was very caring. She said,
  

  I tried to love him in that sense, but it just didn’t happen…I knew I wasn’t being myself.”

•  At 15, she changed her action from out-swing to in-swing after a stress fracture in her back.

• Schutt worked as a boundary umpire for a while when she was 16. First, she tried boundary umpiring in the Great Southern Football League. Then, one day, she was called up for umpiring at the junior South Australian National Football League (SANFL), where she realised that she would prefer to do fielding in 38 °C heat over umpiring in pouring rain. Hence, she quit umpiring.

  

• Schutt debuted for the SA Scorpions in 2009.

  

• She was named to Australia’s squad for the 2013 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Schutt played all of the seven matches for Australia and claimed a total of 15 wickets. One of her best bowling performances for Australia includes the three wickets she claimed for 40 runs in the world cup group match against New Zealand. Australia emerged as the world cup champion, beating West Indies by 114 runs in the final; Schutt opened the bowling for Australia and took 2/38 in the match.

• With 14 dismissals, Schutt emerged as the highest wicket-taker playing for SA Scorpions in the 2015–16 Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) season.

• She made her debut for Adelaide Strikers in the 2015–16 Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), the inaugural season.

  

• She was included in the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year (2017).

• On 26 March 2018, she became the first Aussie woman to claim a T20I hat trick during a match against India in the 2017–18 India women’s Tri-Nation Series. Schutt first dismissed opener Smriti Mandhana for three with the fifth ball of the second over. Mandhana was wide on the crease as the ball ricocheted off her pads and onto the stumps. Consequently, Mithali Raj came to the crease and a similar result followed when Schutt bowled Mithali Raj for a first-ball duck. Schutt did not bowl the fourth over. She returned to bowl the fifth over and had Deepti Sharma caught at a mid-off with her first delivery, the hat-trick ball.

  

• Following the tri-series, she went on to become the world’s no. 1 ranked T20 female bowler.

• Schutt assumed the captainship of Scorpions in 2018 captain when the previous captain, Tegan McPharlin, chose to step down.

• Schutt was named to Australia’s squad for the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in which she emerged as a leading wicket-taker with 10 dismissals.

• She represented IPL Supernovas in the 2018 Women’s T20 Challenge; IPL Supernovas won the match by 3 wickets.

• In the same year, Schutt returned to Adelaide after an 18-month stint at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane. She had returned to Adelaide for rehabilitation as she was diagnosed with patella tendinitis in both knees.

• On 11 September 2019, Schutt became the Aussie woman to take a hat trick in an ODI in the third match during the Australia Women tour of West Indies (2019). The hat trick also led Schutt to become the first female bowler to take two hat tricks in international cricket. ^[8]ICC Cricket

• With 13 dismissals, Schutt was the leading wicket-taker in the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The total of 13 included taking 4/18 in the final against India. On 9 March 2020, ICC announced its team of the tournament which included the name of Megan Schutt.

• Australia claimed the gold medal in the cricket tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. In the final, Australia defeated India by 9 runs.

  

• She was a part of the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup squad for Australia, which won the title for the seventh time defeating England in the finals.

•  Schutt took her 100th wicket in WODI cricket on 3 February 2022 when she dismissed England opener Lauren Winfield-Hill.

• With 27 dismissals, she emerged as the highest wicket-taker of the 2022–23 Women’s Big Bash League. Adelaide Strikers won the season, defeating Sydney Sixers by 10 runs.

• On 21 July 2022, she took her 100th wicket in WT20I cricket in the 4th match against Ireland during the 2022 Ireland women’s Tri-Nation Series.

• She played for London Spirit in the 2022 season of The Hundred.

•  Australia emerged as a winner of the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup with Schutt being named to the ICC Team of the tournament on 27 February 2023.

  

• In February 2023, she was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs. 40 lakhs for the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).

• In an interview, she revealed that although she was a skilled cricketer as a teenager, she took it for granted. She said,
  

  It took things for granted and I had to figure out how lucky I was to be playing a sport amongst really good people and a sport that is an incredible sport, it’s so simple yet so complicated. It took me to appreciate everything around me to actually fall in love with the game … and I’m glad I did.”

• Besides cricket, Schutt is fond of skateboarding.

• She has shrewd political acumen and holds strong opinions. Apart from that, she actively advocates gay rights.

• She often consumes alcoholic beverages with friends. ^[9]cricket.com.au