For decades, professional cricket operated on a simple, unforgiving assumption: as soon as a lady became a mom, her worldwide profession was effectively over. That assumption has been challenged by ladies who returned to nets, excursions, World Cups and captaincy after childbirth, or who constructed remarkable careers whereas elevating youngsters. From Enid Bakewell’s pioneering 1968–69 Check debut as a young mom to Nat Sciver-Brunt main England whereas caring for newborn Theo, these cricketers have expanded what is feasible in the ladies’s sport.
Their stories are not merely sentimental footnotes; they are evidence of changing board policies, better medical assist, and a growing recognition that parenthood and peak performance can coexist.
This checklist brings collectively 20 ladies cricketers who became moms, together with a number of who returned to worldwide or high-level domestic cricket afterwards. Some, equivalent to Bismah Maroof, Amy Satterthwaite, Danielle Wyatt-Hodge and Devika Vaidya, made celebrated comebacks; others, together with Enid Bakewell, Sarah Elliott and Laura Newton, scored Check centuries after motherhood.
The checklist additionally contains gamers equivalent to Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Rachael Haynes, whose families became a part of their cricketing journeys even where their own return-to-play paths differed. Together, they show why the ICC’s 2026 post-pregnancy return-to-play pointers matter: no player should have to decide on between changing into a mom and representing her country.
Motherhood in Ladies’s Cricket
Bismah Maroof (Pakistan):
Former Pakistan skipper and their all-time main run-scorer (6,262 runs) became the primary beneficiary of the PCB’s maternity coverage, returning after daughter Fatima’s start in August 2021, and main Pakistan on the 2022 World Cup just six months later, making an unbeaten 78 towards Australia. She married her first cousin Abrar Ahmed, who’s a software engineer, on 28th November 2018 in Lahore.
Amy Satterthwaite (New Zealand):
The former White Ferns skipper gave start to her daughter Grace on thirteenth January 2020, returned to worldwide cricket later that 12 months, and played in her fourth ODI World Cup in 2022 as a vice-captain of the side, retiring from Worldwide cricket on 25th May 2022. A couple of years later, she additionally gave start to her son Louie on 23rd June 2024. Amy Satterthwaite married the White Ferns cricketer Lea Tahuhu in March 2017.
Nain Abidi (Pakistan):
The former Pakistan vice-captain Nain Abidi married Asad Jafri on 5th January 2017. She gave start to her son Abbas in 2019. She relocated to the USA and returned to symbolize Pakistan in 2018. She retired from Worldwide cricket for Pakistan in 2019. She resumed playing domestic membership cricket in the US and acquired clearance from the PCB to symbolize the USA ladies’s team if chosen.
Sarah Elliot (Australia):
She married Rob. She gave start to son Sam in October 2012. Elliott returned to elite cricket after son Sam’s start, became the primary mom to tour with Australia’s ladies’s team in 2013, and scored her maiden Check century in that Ashes collection whereas breastfeeding nine-month-old Sam between breaks. She additionally has a son named Jacob and a daughter named Jocelyn.
Enid Bakewell (England):
A mom by the point she made her Check debut in 1968, Bakewell scored a century on debut. She married Collin Bakewell, shortly after graduating from school in 1959. She has three youngsters: daughters Lorna and Lynne and a son named Robert, the youngest of the three. She played 12 Exams and 23 ODIs for England. Enid Bakewell retired from worldwide cricket on 7th February 1982.
Laura Newton (England):
She married Richard in 2000–2001. Newton took breaks during her England profession after the births of her two sons, George and Harry. She played 89 internationals between 1997 and 2007, and scored 1,804 worldwide runs with 31 wickets. Laura Newton announced her Worldwide retirement on ninth May 2007.
Sneha Deepthi (India):
She married Phillip Maddirala in October 2019. Throughout her time, she became the youngest T20I debutant for India on the age of 16 years and 204 days, on 2nd April 2013, towards Bangladesh at Vadodara. Deepthi returned to domestic cricket for Andhra just eight months after delivering her daughter Kriva, later captained Andhra, and was purchased by Delhi Capitals in the inaugural edition in 2023 for a worth of 30 lakhs.
Lea Tahuhu (New Zealand):
She married former New Zealand cricketer Amy Satterthwaite in March 2017, after being collectively since 2010 and engaged in 2014. The New Zealand seamer became a mom and continued her worldwide profession. She was certainly one of eight moms playing on the 2022 Ladies’s ODI World Cup. She retired from ODI cricket on 7th March 2026, and from T20I cricket after the conclusion of the 10th edition of the T20 World Cup in July 2026.
Afy Fletcher (West Indies):
The West Indies leg-spinner gave start to her sons Audee and Rennie in 2021. She returned to worldwide cricket in January 2022 after an 18-month paternity leave. She continues to ply her trade on the worldwide degree for the West Indies on the age of 39.
Lizelle Lee (South Africa):
The former South African wicket-keeper batter married Tanja Cronje in September 2020. She gave start to their soned on the 2022 Ladies’s ODI World Cup. She announced her worldwide retirement on eighth July 2022. She currently performs in the Ladies’s Large Bash (WBBL) as a neighborhood player for the Hobart Hurricanes
Megan Schutt (Australia):
She married Jess Holyoake on thirtieth March 2019. The couple became mother and father to their daughter, Rylee Louise. However, the couple eventually announced their separation in July 2025 after a 10-year relationship.
She continues to symbolize Australia on the worldwide degree. However, she had earlier announced that the 10th edition of the ICC Ladies’s T20 World Cup could be her last ICC tournament participation.
Rachel Haynes (Australia):
She married former Australian and New South Wales cricketer Leah Poulton. The couple welcomed their first little one, Hugo Poulton-Haynes, in October 2021. Haynes was additionally a brand new mom on the 2022 World Cup. She announced her Worldwide retirement on 15th September 2022. The Meg Lanning-led Australian gold medal triumph on the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 was her last worldwide appearance for Australia.
Masabata Klaas (South Africa):
The lively South African pacer gave start to her daughter named Rethabile, in 2013 whom she is elevating as a single mom with the assist of her mom. The South African seamer has played the majority of her worldwide profession as a mom.
Danielle Wyatt-Hodge (England):
The England veteran top-order batter married football agent and a South African, Georgie Hodge, on 10th June 2024 at Chelsea Old City Corridor in London. The couple gave start to Daisy James Wyatt-Hodge on 20th May 2026. She returned to England responsibility within weeks and struck an unbeaten 105 towards Sri Lanka in the 2026 T20 World Cup, dedicating the “mummy hundred” to her three-week-old daughter.
Nat Sciver-Brunt (England):
The present England skipper married Katherine Brunt on 29th May 2022, after getting engaged in 2019. England’s captain became a mom in March 2025 when her wife, Katherine, gave start to their son Theodore. Nat returned after a short maternity break and became the primary professional England cricketer to captain her country whereas a mom.
Katherine Sciver-Brunt (England):
She was England’s all-time main wicket-taker during her time on the worldwide degree with 335 Worldwide wickets across codecs, until the left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone in July 2026. Married to present England skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt gave start to their son Theodore. Katherine Sciver-Brunt already announced her Worldwide retirement on 5th May 2023, earlier than the start of their little one. She retired from all types of cricket on nineteenth August 2023. Her expertise has helped drive conversations round stronger maternity provisions in the professional sport.
Lauren Down (New Zealand):
She is in a relationship with her companion Carl Brungar, and the couple welcomed their daughter named Ruby in January 2024 and toured with the White Ferns six months later. She announced her Worldwide retirement earlier this 12 months on nineteenth February 2026.
Erin Burns (Australia):
She married her wife, Anna Jane, in 2019. The couple gave start to their son Jack on 20th January 2022 and their daughter Nina on twenty fourth June 2025. The Australian all-rounder became a mom and continued her professional cricket journey, representing a growing group of Australian gamers balancing parenthood with elite commitments.
Devika Vaidya (India):
She married Meghan Belsare on twenty first April 2024, having engaged in May 2023. She gave start to a child boy named Dhruv in June 2025. The Maharashtrian leg-spin bowling all-rounder, after taking a break from cricket for motherhood, returned to aggressive domestic cricket with Maharashtra this 12 months.
Lauren Winfield-Hill (England):
She married former cricketer and Leeds Rhinos Rugby League player Courtney Hill on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, in March 2020. The couple gave start to their first little one, Margot Joan Winfield-Hill, in January, earlier this 12 months. She balances her domestic cricket profession, playing for Yorkshire, Queensland Hearth and Sunrisers Leeds.
These gamers changed more than scoreboards. Bismah Maroof’s comeback helped normalise maternity assist in Pakistan; Satterthwaite’s return influenced New Zealand Cricket’s method; and the Sciver-Brunt family has change into central to England’s improved parental provisions, together with 12 months’ totally paid maternity leave for worldwide gamers.
The ICC’s “6 Rs” framework, Prepared, Assessment, Restore, Recondition, Return and Refine, now gives a structured pathway for gamers returning after childbirth, masking medical evaluate, gradual coaching, cricket-specific conditioning and ongoing assist. The subsequent era of cricketers will not should invent the path; these 20 ladies already walked it.
I am Yash Tailor, and I imagine work needs to be pushed by passion. Subsequently, after completing my Engineering, I selected to work in the Cricket industry, my passion. My goal is to achieve a stage where I really enjoy what I do and provides my finest to every task with vitality and purpose.
Source: femalecricket.com
