Born on March 28th 1982 in Napier, Hawke’s Bay, is former Test, ODI and T20I player for New Zealand, Sara McGlashan.
Sara first began playing cricket in primary school, following the footsteps of her older brother Peter who also went on to play cricket for New Zealand. She continues to play cricket through her teen years for age teams and by the time she is twenty Sara is selected to play for New Zealand in the first of what would be 212 international matches.
A debut in ODI cricket came in June 2002 against the Netherlands at Amstelveen. Sara was run out for eleven. Her brother Peter was on hand to witness her debut. (He would wait another seven years before making his own debut with the Black Caps.)
Sara played a total 134 ODIs for the White Ferns scoring 2438 runs with a high score of 97 not out against England at Derby in 2007, guiding her team to victory and earning Player of the Match into the bargain. Her second top score of 88 not out was in a World Cup match against South Africa at Bowral, NSW in 2009 where she shared a record sixth wicket partnership in World Cup matches of 139 with Nicola Browne (51*). The record still stands. It was the second of three ODI World Cup tournaments in which Sara played.
Embed from Getty ImagesA tiny taste of Test cricket when Sara played in her debut in 2003 against India and then in New Zealand’s most recent Test in 2004 against England.
It was on that 2004 tour of England where Sara played in the first women’s T20 International match and also part of the first victory when the White Ferns won by 9 runs. Over the course of the next eleven years Sara would play in 76 T20Is. She would feature in four World Cups during that career, scoring 1164 runs with a strike rate of 99.48. Her highest score was 84 against the West Indies in the 2010 World Cup semi-final.
Sara took that T20 experience with her as she played in the inaugural season of the WBBL with the Sydney Sixers and with the Southern Vipers in the Kia Super League.