Amy Hunter

Some Lesser Known Facts About Amy Hunter

• Amy Hunter is a female Irish cricketer. She is known for her wicketkeeping and batting skills and has played crucial roles in many of her country’s wins.

  

• At the age of seven, she started playing cricket with her two elder brothers at home. Later, she also played alongside her father on the Instonians VI (Junior League).

  

• In an interview, she talked about the best thing that she liked about cricket, and it was hitting sixes.
• She first got trained at the Northern Cricket Union at an age of eight and later at the Shapoorji Pallonji Cricket Academy in Ireland.

• Two years later, she started playing for Instonians Under 11 (Boys), NCU Under 11 (Boys), NCU Under 15 and Under 17 Girls, Ireland Under 15 Girls, and most impressively NCU Women and The Dragons Super 3’s team. She first made a mark in cricket during a match between NCU Women and North-West Women, where she took three wickets in four balls.
• In July 2017, Ireland was elevated to full member status. This opened her door to more opportunities in Irish cricket.

• On 24 July 2020, she scored an unbeaten 91 runs to lead her team a win by 53 runs (DLS) against The Hills, which included nine fours and one six. With this, she scored a total of 132 runs without being dismissed in the series. A few months later on 6 September 2020, she smashed a gritty 54 runs while playing for Typhoons and helped her side beat Scorchers by 53 runs in the fifth match of the Super 50 series at Oak Hill Cricket Club in Wicklow (South Dublin).

  

• She was called into the team on multiple occasions in 2020, but in November same year, she made a mark in T20 against Scotland at La Manga in Spain in place of Shauna Kavanagh who was withdrawn from the squad after her COVID positive report. In an interview with Sportsound Extra Time, she talked about her induction into the national squad of Ireland. She said, ^[6]BBC Sport
  

  “I didn’t expect to get into the squad, just maybe an outside chance. It’s a great opportunity and I’m just excited to be there.”

  

• On 11 October 2021, Amy created history with an unbeaten 121 runs of 127 deliveries against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club (Zimbabwe). Her century was the only hundred from Ireland’s side and helped her team script a series win by 2-1.

  The history making moment! 🙌

  Amy Hunter strikes a four to become the youngest centurion in Women’s one-day international cricket. 🏏☘️

  Just listen to what it means.👏@HanleyEnergy | #BackingGreen☘️🏏 pic.twitter.com/Ht16kpyYnO

  — Ireland Women’s Cricket (@IrishWomensCric) October 11, 2021

• After the match, she said,
  

  “It feels really good, it’s a bit surreal right now, when I got to my hundred, I had no idea what to do. I didn’t know whether to take the helmet off or keep it on. It was unbelievable.”

  She further adds,

  “I felt more nervous for my fifty. I didn’t do so well in the first three games so I was just delighted to be out there and get that first four away and from there it kind of flowed. From fifty to a hundred felt like it went much quicker than from naught to fifty.”

  

• Ireland was already up in the series by 2-1 against Zimbabwe in October 2021 in their homeland. This was the 4th W-ODI of the series. Zimbabwe, after winning the toss, opted to field first. Ireland lost their first wicket on 40 runs in nine overs when Amy came out to bat. Together, Amy and Gaby built a solid 104 runs partnership before Gaby got dismissed on 78, but Amy stood at one end and partnered with the captain of her team, Laura Delany, for another century stand for her team; however, the captain also departed after scoring 68 runs, but Amy didn’t stop. She finished the innings with a total of 312 runs with her contribution of 121 runs off 127 balls and scripted her name in the history books. The opposition team though fought well, but they fell short of the target by 85 runs. Amy Hunter was awarded the ‘Player of the Match.’ Interestingly, this feat came on her 16th birthday. It was Ireland’s highest ODI total (both men and women), more than their previous best of 309 runs against the Netherlands in 2009. Before that inning, she had scored 104 runs in the Super 50 series held in 2021 at an average of 26 and scored her maiden half-century for the winning side, Typhoons. Soon, she came under the radar of Irish selectors in 2020. After that inning, Carrie Archer, the chairman of the national women’s selectors, said, ^[7]The Cricketer
  

  “2020 was a breakthrough year for a few players, particularly some of the newer names that have appeared on the national selector’s radar. Amy Hunter has been a prospect for a number of years now, and you could see her performances with the bat as well as with the gloves that she is starting to come into her own.”

  Director, Richard Holdsworth praised her performance and said,

  “2021 will be a crucial year for Irish women’s cricket – with a 50-over World Cup Qualifier in the offing and the ICC Women’s Championship approaching, it is critical that we prepare the squad for the battles ahead and give them the best chance to succeed.”

  

• Besides cricket, she is a talented pool player and has won Irish Minor’s School gold medals in swimming. Also, she played for the Ulster U13 Girls Squash team during her school days.