Amy Hunter Wiki, Height, Age, Family, Biography & More

Amy Hunter is a professional cricketer who plays for the Ireland women’s national cricket team. She also plays for a few domestic teams in Ireland including Dragons and Typhoons. She is known for her wicketkeeping and inning-building skills.

Wiki/Biography

Amy Hunter was born on Tuesday, 11 October 2005 (age 16 years; as of 2021) in Malahide, Dublin (Ireland). Her hometown is in Northern Belfast, Ireland. She started playing cricket at the age of seven with her two elder brothers. She once revealed that the best thing about cricket she liked was hitting sixes. A year later, her training started at Northern Cricket Union (NCU), and then Shapoorji Pallonji Cricket Academy in Ireland.

Soon after playing for domestic teams in various age groups, she came under the radar of the national selectors and got selected in the Irish Women’s T20 team in 2020. It was in October 2021 when she made her international debut in Women One-Day International debut against Zimbabwe.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 1″

Weight (approx.): 55 kg

Hair Colour: Dark Coppery Brown

Eye Colour: Light Brown

Family

Parents & Siblings

Amy Hunter belongs to an Irish family. Her father’s name is Jim Hunter and her mother’s name is Sara Hunter. She has two elder brothers named James Hunter and Andrew Hunter.

Career

She first played alongside her father on the Instonians VI (Junior League). Two years later, her cricket journey began while playing for Instonians Under 11 (Boys), NCU Under 11 (Boys), NCU Under 15 and Under 17 Girls, Ireland Under 15 Girls, NCU Women, and The Dragons Super 3’s team. Her first landmark in cricket was a match between NCU Women and North-West Women in which she took three wickets and four balls.

In 2016, she got her highest batting total of unbeaten 63 against Church of Ireland Young Men’s Society (CIYMS) while playing for NCU Under 11 team in the Quoile Cup. After that, she scored 48 not out against Waringstown in the semis. In the finals, she scored valuable 27 runs and successfully chased the target and helped her side win the match by eight wickets. In 2017, Ireland was elevated to full member status. This opened her door for more opportunities in Irish cricket. Three years later in 2020, she made 91 not out and helped her side win the match by 53 runs through Duckworth–Lewis (DLS) method against the Hills on 24 July.

That inning includes nine four and one sixes. She remained unbeaten on 132 runs during that entire series. In the same year, on 6 September, she scored valuable 54 runs for Typhoons and helped her side beat Scorchers by 53 runs.

It was the fifth match of the super 50 series at Oak Hill Cricket Club at Wicklow in South Dublin (Ireland).

With her consistent performances in the past, she was called in the national side multiple times, but she couldn’t grab her spot in the playing eleven. She made her international debut on 24 May 2020 against Scotland at Stormont Cricket ground in Belfast (Ireland). Later, in November 2020, at La Manga in Spain, she replaced Shauna Kavanagh (withdrawn due to her COVID negative report). On 5 October 2021, she made her Women One-Day International Debut against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwean homeland. During an interview with Sportsound Extra Time, she told,

“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.”

She couldn’t do well in the first three-match and only scored seven runs in those games. She came at the seventh position in her first match and scored only two runs before getting bowled by Josephine Nkomo of Zimbabwe, but right in her fourth game, she scripted her name in the history books by becoming the youngest cricketer ever to score an International century (both male and female). The fourth match was on 11 October and coincidently, 11 October is her birthday and the day is also celebrated as the International Day of Girl Child.

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

Ireland was leading the series by 2-1 before the fourth one-dayer. Zimbabwe gave Ireland a chance to bat first looking at the pitch conditions. Ireland lost their first wicket on 40 runs. At one down, Amy came out to bat. She took the score to 144 before her partner Gaby Lewis (highest series run scorer) got dismissed on 78. Their captain Laura Delany came at number four and built a partnership of 147 runs before she got dismissed on 68. Amy was playing the anchor role and remained unbeaten till the end with a score of 121 runs of 127 balls.

Her team scored 312 runs in 50-overs. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, lost wickets at constant intervals and could only manage to score 227 for the loss of eight wickets. Amy Hunter was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’. Interestingly, only 40 runs were scored of boundaries and still, she could manage of strike rate of almost run a ball. The score posted by her team is Ireland’s highest One Day International total for both men and women. Their previous best was 309 runs, which came against the Netherlands in 2009.

Before that series, she took part in the Super 50 series in which she scored 104 runs with an average of 26 runs and reached to her maiden half-century for the Typhoons team. After that inning, Carrie Archer, the chairman of the national women’s selectors told during an interview that ^[1]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.”

Her statement was backed by Cricket Ireland’s high-performance director Richard Holdsworth, who further added,

“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.”

Major Records

• Youngest Cricketer to score an ODI century on 11 October 2021 at an age of 16, surpassing India’s Mithali Raj (16 years and 205 days) ^[2]Female Cricket

• The first player to score a hundred on her birthday in any format of Women’s International Cricket ^[3]Twitter

• Highest score by an Irish Woman in a One-Day International ^[4]Twitter

• Fourth player to score an ODI hundred for Ireland and the first since 2000. ^[5]The Free Press Journal

• Her partnership of 143 runs for the third wicket is the second-best for Ireland. ^[6]The Free Press Journal

Favourites

• Cricketer: Ben Stokes

• Sports: Hockey, Netball, Squash, Swimming, Athletics

Facts/Trivia

• During her initial days, she use to play with boys and later she admitted that playing with her brothers has made her stronger enough that she could give fierce competition to the boys. In fact, she also told that some of the boys were scared of her batting.
  

  College photo of Amy Hunter

• After that historic inning of 121 runs not out, she told that
  

  “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 nought to fifty.”

• Apart from cricket, she is also a talented pool player, and she won several gold medals in swimming for her Irish Minor’s School. Also, she was featured in her Ulster U13 Girls Squash team during her childhood.
  

  Young Amy Hunter