Who Is Joanna Child? 64-Year-old Makes History For Portugal Women Against Norway Women In T20I Series

There is a saying that age is just a number game. Athletes have managed to achieve the impossible not matter what their age is. In a sport like cricket dominated by young blood walking onto the field at 64 years of age and making a debut for the country says a lot about the determination of the player.

On April 7, Portugal's Joanna Child walked onto the cricket field with a bat in hand, for her debut T20I appearance for Portugal against Norway in Albergaria.

About Joanna Child historic debut

By taking the field she also etched her name into the record books as the second-oldest cricketer ever to debut in a T20 International. She is second only to Gibraltar’s Sally Barton, who made her T20I debut at 66.

She surpassed Andrew Brownlee from Falkland Islands (62 years, 145 days) and Cayman's Mally Moore (62 years, 25 days). Before this series, Child had no other competitive appearances to her name. She was a part of the Portuguese squad which featured young players such as 15-year-old Ishreet Cheema, 16-year-old Mariam Waseem, and another 16-year-old Afsheen Ahmed.

How was Joanna's performance during series against Norway?

She is a right-handed batter and bowls right-arm slow. She featured in all three matches of the T20I series between Portugal and Norway. Over the course of the series, she scored a total of 3 runs with a strike rate of 25.00. With the ball, she bowled in just one game, conceding 11 runs without taking a wicket, finishing with an economy rate of 16.50.

The three-match series was closely contested. Portugal claimed victory in the first and third matches, while Norway bounced back in the second to level the series. Ultimately, Portugal clinched the series 2-1,