Derryth Lynne Thomas (born 29 September 1939) is a Welsh former

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played as a right-handed batter and right-arm

off break Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler. She appeared in 10

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

and 12

One Day Internationals A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cu ...

for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between 1966 and 1979. She also played 12 matches for, and was captain of, International XI at the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

. She played domestic cricket for

West of England West of England is a combined authority area in South West England. It is made up of the Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset unitary authorities. The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the West of England Dan N ...

. She opened the batting for England when they won the 1973 World Cup, and, against International XI in England's opening game of the tournament, became the first woman to score a century in one-day international cricket. In the same match, along with

Enid Bakewell Enid Bakewell ( Turton; born 16 December 1940) played for the English women's cricket team in 12 Tests between 1968 and 1979, and in 23 one-day international matches. A right-handed batter and slow left-arm orthodox bowler, on her figures she ...

, Thomas set the record for the highest opening partnership in

Women's Cricket World Cup The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup is the sport's oldest world championship, with the first tournament held in England in 1973. Matches are played as One Day Internationals (ODIs) over 50 overs per team, while there is also another champion ...

history (246). She also played hockey at international level for Wales. She was a full-time P.E. teacher at Neath Girls' Grammar School.

References

External links

* 1939 births Living people Cricketers from Llanelli England women Test cricketers England women One Day International cricketers International XI women cricket captains International XI women One Day International cricketers West women cricketers Welsh women cricketers Women cricketers who made a century on One Day International debut {{England-cricket-bio-1930s-stub