Brazil bowler Cardoso takes 9 Lesotho wickets in record-breaking T20 win

Gaborone, Botswana – Brazil etched two new entries into cricket’s record books on Thursday evening as 21-year-old seamer Laura Cardoso produced a spell for the ages, claiming nine wickets to propel her side to a thumping 189-run victory over Lesotho in the BCA Kalahari Women’s T20 International Tournament.

Having opted to bat after winning the toss, Brazil rode a belligerent 69 off 41 balls from wicketkeeper-batter Monnike Machado to reach 202-8, the highest total of the competition so far. The South Americans then watched Cardoso steal the show with a devastating exhibition of new-ball bowling that skittled Lesotho for a paltry 13.

The carnage began in the second over of the reply. Cardoso, operating from the Kalahari Ovals pavilion end, completed a hat-trick with the final three deliveries of her first over, removing Lesotho’s top order in quick succession. Not content with that feat, she returned to trap two more batters in front with the first two balls of her next over, becoming the first woman in T20 International history to take five wickets in consecutive deliveries.

By the time Ret’sepile Limema became her ninth victim in the fifth over, Cardoso had single-handedly dismantled the Lesotho batting line-up. A bowling change denied her the opportunity to claim all ten wickets, but her figures of 3-2-4-9 were still enough to overhaul Indonesia’s Rohmalia Rohmalia, whose seven-wicket haul against Mongolia last year had stood as the women’s benchmark. Cardoso’s nine-wicket return is now the best bowling analysis in men’s or women’s T20 Internationals, eclipsing Bhutan’s Sonam Yeshey, who took eight for seven against Myanmar in 2023.

The right-armer also flirted with a second hat-trick, dismissing Lesotho’s batters with the last two deliveries of her second over to finish that set with four wickets. Her career tally now stands at 55 wickets in 48 T20 matches for Brazil.

Lesotho’s 13 is not the lowest total in women’s T20 Internationals – Mali were rolled for six by Rwanda in 2019 – but it underlined the gulf in class on the day. Brazil, who have won all five of their fixtures in the six-team event, will look to maintain their perfect record when they face Mozambique on Friday.