Australia equal world record for most consecutive women's ODI wins

Belinda Clark’s team also won 17 matches in a row between 1997 and 1999. No international side in women’s cricket has ever enjoyed a longer run of wins in ODI cricket

Rachael Haynes struck her maiden international hundred as Australia won their 17th consecutive ODI by beating Sri Lanka by 110 runs.

Alyssa Healy also struck a half century, before Jess Jonassen took four wickets in a comfortable victory for Meg Lanning’s side.

It means that this Australian side draws level with a previous dominant era in Australian - and world - cricket; Belinda Clark’s team won 17 matches in a row between 1997 and 1999. No international side in women’s cricket has ever enjoyed a longer run of wins in ODI cricket.

Two weeks after the defeat that ended that run 20 years ago, another marathon unbeaten stint began, with Australia then going 16 more games without losing between February 1999 and December 2000.

The win over Sri Lanka, secured on a tired, used surface, also gives Australia an unassailable lead in the Women’s Championship.

The overall record in ODI cricket is held by Ricky Ponting’s Australian side of 2003.

Between January and May of that World Cup year, a side that featured Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist at the top of the order dominated the global game, winning 21 consecutive games.

Lanning’s outfit, however, is equally dominant; in the current women’s game, a spine of Healy, Lanning, Ellyse Perry and Megan Schutt is unrivaled.

Having already whitewashed world champions England in the 50-over format this summer, the records held by Clark and Ponting – two of Australia’s most successful captains – will soon be on the line.

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