CRICKET WICKET RESEARCH

Women’s ODI bowling: wickets, economy and strike rate tell different stories

Compare women’s ODI bowlers with at least 100 career wickets using workload, runs per wicket and balls per wicket.

Cricket Wicket · Published 2026-09-07 · Data checked 2026-09-07

THE FINDING

Jhulan Goswami has the most ODI wickets in this career snapshot: 255. Across 35 bowlers with at least 100 wickets, the comparison becomes more useful when wicket volume is paired with cost and frequency.

Women’s ODI wickets · ten largest totals among 100-wicket careers

Jhulan Goswami255

Shabnim Ismail191

Marizanne Kapp181

Anisa Mohammed180

Cathryn Fitzpatrick180

Katherine Sciver-Brunt170

Deepti Sharma166

Ellyse Perry166

Stafanie Taylor157

Ayabonga Khaka151

Three measures, three denominators

Wickets measure accumulated output. Bowling average is runs conceded per wicket; a lower number means fewer runs conceded for each wicket taken. Bowling strike rate is legal balls per wicket, while economy is runs per six legal balls. Economy can be low without frequent wickets, and a bowler can take wickets frequently while conceding more runs.

Women’s ODI career bowling: highest wicket totals with at least 100 wickets
Player	Matches	Bowling innings	Wickets	Legal balls	Runs conceded	Average	Balls/wicket	Economy
Jhulan Goswami	204	203	255	10,005	5,622	22.04	39.23	3.37
Shabnim Ismail	127	126	191	6,170	3,812	19.95	32.30	3.70
Marizanne Kapp	162	152	181	6,851	4,388	24.24	37.85	3.84
Anisa Mohammed	141	134	180	6,252	3,735	20.75	34.73	3.58
Cathryn Fitzpatrick	109	109	180	6,017	3,023	16.79	33.42	3.01
Katherine Sciver-Brunt	141	139	170	6,847	4,081	24.00	40.27	3.57
Deepti Sharma	124	123	166	6,194	4,598	27.69	37.31	4.45
Ellyse Perry	168	139	166	5,806	4,243	25.56	34.97	4.38
Stafanie Taylor	179	139	157	5,820	3,476	22.14	37.07	3.58
Ayabonga Khaka	121	120	151	5,527	3,970	26.29	36.60	4.30

Frequency can identify a different leader

Among all 35 qualifying careers, Jess Jonassen has the lowest recorded balls-per-wicket figure, 29.51. The 100-wicket minimum limits small samples, but it still compares careers of different lengths and eras.

These are descriptive career statistics. They do not isolate new-ball spells, death overs, opposition or venue. They also do not establish bowling style: this publication does not infer pace or spin from a player’s name. Open an individual explorer for a clearly labeled archive split.