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Meg Lanning makes history in WPL as cricket world stunned by fastest ball ever

The former Aussie captain survived the incredible onslaught to create history of her own.

Riley Morgan
·Sports Reporter
·4-min read

Meg Lanning has faced and survived the fastest ball ever in women's cricket as she helped guide the Delhi Capitals to a home victory. Lanning was able to create cricket history in front of her home crowd as she became the first woman to pass 500 runs in the Women's Premier League after her 53 helped the Capitals to a 29 run victory over the Mumbai Indians.

Lanning was looking ominous out in the middle, but had to survive a Shabnim Ismail missile after the South African became the first women to break the 130km/h mark. Ismail was edging closer to breaking the barrier in her first two overs, before her full delivery in her third over was timed at 132.1 km/h by the speedgun at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Meg Lanning (pictured) has become the first player to pass 500 runs in the Women's Premier League. (Images: wplt20.com/Getty Images)
Meg Lanning (pictured) has become the first player to pass 500 runs in the Women's Premier League. (Images: wplt20.com/Getty Images)

Lanning played at the delivery, but missed as it crashed into her front pad. Fortunately, for the former Australian captain, the ball was deemed to be going down leg side. Ismail was fired up and animated during the clash after she was hit for two consecutive sixes in the third over, before getting her wicket.

However, Lanning weathered the storm and created one of her own as she reached 53 off 38 balls in another masterful knock. Alongside Jemimah Rodrigues - who blasted 69 off 33 - the Capitals finished 4-192.

The Indians managed to reach 8-163, but ran out of time after Aussie spinner Jess Jonassen showed her class to finish with 3-21 off four overs. While all the talk was around Ismail's delivery, it was the Aussie spinner who ended up close to player of the match if it wasn't for Rodrigues' epic knock.

Meg Lanning celebrates.
Meg Lanning (pictured) celebrates after scoring a fifty. (Pankaj Nangia via Getty Images)

Despite plenty of hype around Ismail's record-breaking delivery, it was Lanning once again proving to be arguably the best T20 batter in the tournament. Lanning has now scored 31, 51, 11, 55 and 53 in her last five innings for the Capitals. She sits second in the run scoring charts after five games, behind Smitri Mandhana.

Jonassen's three-wicket haul against the Indians has seen her move to the top of the leader board with nine wickets from three games. The Capitals are now leading the table after five games. Cricket fans were in awe of Lanning's run-scoring achievements as she continues to prove why she is one of the best going around.

Jess Jonassen leads wicket tally in Women's Premier League

Jonassen dismissed the dangerous Hayley Matthews at the top of the order, but was humble when talking about her performance. "They were needing significant runs at the end to win, so maybe I got a couple of cheap wickets at the end but, hey, I'll take anything I can get," Jonassen said after her economical bowling. "I'm just riding the wave at the moment, loving being out on the cricket field contributing to a victory."

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Rodrigues was immense for the Capitals with her 69 runs, which included three sixes, two points clear of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai. "That was unreal … it was pleasure to be down the other end watching Jemimah," Jonassen said of Rodrigues.

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