The 11th October 2021 will live long in the memory for Amy Hunter. Having only made her ODI debut at the start of the Ireland Women's tour to Zimbabwe, Amy would be heading back to Belfast the youngest ever ODI centurion. Amy also made history as he hit the highest ODI score ever for an Irish women and becoming only the fourth women to hit an ODI Hundred for Ireland. The first hundred for an Irish women since the year 2000.
What makes this day even more special it was Amy's 16th birthday. Amy only made her One-Day International debut in the first game of the tour and had amassed a total of seven runs in the three games prior to the famous hundred.
The above image shows Amy Hunter celebrating reaching three figures for the first time.
When Amy is not playing in the Women's Super Series, she represents both Malahide cricket and also her home club of Instonians. I was able to talk to a few key members of Instonians cricket club who have aided Amy in her cricketing journey so far.
Instonians Ladies cricket coach, James Magee stated that "It was never a doubt the talent that Amy has. Amy has been training at the club with her two brothers for years and has been a role model for other players in our ladies team. We all know at Instonians that Amy is destined to achieve great things in the world of cricket and I believe she could become one of the best Irish cricketers ever".
I also had the privilege to be able to talk to Instonians Director of Cricket Mr Steven Crothers about Amy. Steven was Amy's first cricket coach at the club and has helped to transform her into the player she is today.
Steven Crothers said "Amy is a unique talent. She has always been very coach able and driven to be the best she can be. She dominated boy's underage cricket. Amy has always had a exemplary work ethic and we as a club have been proud to be apart of Amy's journey. Personally, I was delighted to see Amy's application and maturity in her record-breaking innings. Her game has evolved, however she still has the ability to annihilate bowling attacks with her attacking stroke-play and loves to clear the ropes! I'm confident Amy will reach the top of the women's game and everyone at Instonians will be watching her progress with great interest. And she's still only 16...".
Lastly, I was able to chat to Irish International Cara Murray after her training session at Jordanstown. Cara was in the playing XI when Amy hit her maiden hundred. Cara stated that "Over the last number of years I have been training alongside Amy. When I first met her she was only 11 playing in an NCU Under age team and from then I knew we were going to see an exceptional player go from strength to strength with experience. During the tour, Amy probably hadn't performed to how she would liked up until the last game. All of the support staff and us her team mates know the talent Amy has but even this exceeded all of our expectations. When she flicked the ball away on 98 for four the whole dressing room erupted, every single member of the team was absolutely delighted for her and just shows the levels of ability Amy has to do this at just 16. I have absolutely non doubt that this is just the start of a very long career in a green jersey for her and I look forward to playing with her and watching her career go from strength to strength".
To conclude this article, I would like to personally congratulate Amy again for scoring 121 runs off 127 balls and wish Amy all of the best in the winter tours with Ireland.
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