Women’s cricket is a thriving sport. The skills and abilities of the players are admirable, and it is great news for professional sport in general to say with absolute conviction that the gentleman’s game has evolved to a point where it can truly also be called a “ladies’ game”.

Cricket has delivered bucket loads of legendary players over the years. Sir Don Bradman is the figurehead of the Legends pool and many others, some without doubt, and others through hefty ongoing debate, rightfully share this tag of invincibility with the Don himself.

For every Shane Warne fan, there is probably a dissenting “Muralitharan was better if you consider that……” voice. For every cricket pundit mesmerized by the magical bowling spells of Wasim Akram, there is a stoic opinion that goes: “Glenn McGrath was……”. Hopefully the point is made.

If it comes to records in cricket, Brian Lara is an immovable rock. Statistics do not lie, and behind this iconic West Indian batsman stand the records for highest ever test match and first- class scores. A total score of 400 in a test match is respectable for any batting line up. Lara did it alone, in one single innings. His 501 scored for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994, remains beyond comprehension, mythical in its likelihood adjudicated from what is humanly possible in a challenging limited time span. His achievements as batsman earned him the nickname of “The Prince of Trinidad”.

And on the topic of Lara, enters a phonetically similar batter, called Laura. Laura who? Laura Wolvaardt. Memorize the name before ignorance turns you in to a cricket illiterate overnight. As in the case of Brian Lara, statistics pertaining to Laura Wolvaardt tells a tale of greatness. In Lara’s case it is greatness confirmed. In the case of Laura Wolvaardt, it is greatness unfolding. Hopefully!

Take a moment to consider the following constants in men’s and women’s cricket:

• same bats;
• same grounds;
• same cricket balls;
• same rules and specifications;
• same physical ability equation between batters and bowlers confined to the same measured spatial elements.

Now consider the names Quinton de Kock, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and Graeme Smith. No one who would take these names to be that of a SA cricket greatest of all time First XI top order batting line up, should be ridiculed as naïve or ignorant. However, these names rank as the youngest ever South African batsmen to score 2000 ODI runs.

The statistics read:

• Quinton de Kock: 23 years and 48 days
• Jacques Kallis: 23 years and 121 days
• AB de Villiers: 23 years and 349 days
• Graeme Smith: 25 years and 273 days

These players represent the crème de la crème of achievers who reached milestones in incredibly impressive time – lines. They are South African cricket greats and will remain so until the end of times. Suppose for the purpose of argument that we predict that a South African cricketer will come along and smash Quinton de Kock’s record by 478 days (1 year and 113 days). The likelihood will probably be questioned. At the same time, the inherent curiosity of humanhood will prevail to a point where the identity of this super cricketer will want to be discovered as soon as possible.

Wait no more, the identity of this mysterious prince of batsmen surprises on two fronts. The first is that the same milestone mentioned earlier has been achieved at the astonishingly young age of 21 years and 315 days. The second is that the batter will not get to be called the Prince of batters but rather the Princess of batters. History has been made. In the same game with the same rules and all the same other variables applicable to our four subjects of greatness above, Laura Wolvaardt has pipped them to the top of the “Youngest to 2000 ODI Runs” pile, and she has done so by a landslide difference in margin between her and number two.

Sports stars are seldom remembered for how their careers begun and unfairly and often sadly remembered for how their careers end, especially in cases of tragedy or the proverbial fall from grace. Laura has a long way to go in cricket before her legacy will be casted in stone. However, do not let the significance of her achievements go by unnoticed. It is remarkable and it is inspiring at a time in history where it is the right medicine for so many reasons.

Yes, Brian Lara achieved mythical feats in cricket and his legacy leaves many in awe, but in cricket, history ends where the familiar thumping sound of English willow on a leather ball echoes in the present. There is a new clean ball striking batter in the cricket colosseum. Her name is Laura with a “U”, and do not forget it.