Hailing from Melbourne, Rachael Haynes started playing cricket from a very young age. Having grown up playing mainly against boys, she made the move to Box Hill Cricket Club to take part in the women’s competition. After representing Victoria in the interstate U 17 and U 19 tournaments, Haynes made her WNCL debut for Victoria in the 2005/06 season as a 19-year-old.

While her debut season was rather quiet, the following year saw Haynes recording two fifties and her side - Victoria - finished as runners-up in 2006-07. It was in 2008 when Haynes’s leadership qualities were first observed. The left-handed batswoman guided her team - Australian Youth team - to victories over senior teams of England and Australia.

2008-09 was Haynes’s breakthrough season. She notched up her maiden hundred against Queensland at Melbourne, a knock for which she was named the Player of the Match. Batting at the top of the order, the southpaw amassed 357 runs in nine matches at an average of 44.62 to end as the leading run-getter for Victoria and fourth in the competition.

After getting overlooked for the 2009 WT20, Haynes was named in the touring Australian side against England. She made her international debut in the fifth ODI when the Australians were 0-4 down in the five match series. A couple of days later, Haynes made her Test debut against the same opposition in the same tour and announced her arrival at Worcester. She came to the crease when Australia were reduced to 28/5 on the opening day of the Test. The debutant waded her team out of trouble with a 229-run stand with Jodie Fields, but Haynes agonizingly missed out on her maiden Test ton by two runs as she was dismissed in the last over of the day.

Haynes captained Victoria in 2009-10 as well as in 2010-11 and was the team’s leading run-scorer on both occasions. But, she couldn’t guide her team to championship as they lost both the finals to arch-rivals New South Wales. In 2011-12, she moved to Lendlease Breakers (NSW) and straightaway tasted success. She scored heavily - 402 runs in 7 innings at 57.42 - and scored a match-winning (156 off 139) against her former side, thereby winning the WNCL.

She soon became a regular member in the Australian squad.While she was part of the squad that won the WT20 in 2010, she was an integral member during the 2012 edition, which was also won by the Southern Stars. In the 2013 World Cup - which was won by Australia - Haynes was the top run-getter for her side and fourth highest in the competition - scoring 273 runs at an average of 45.50, which also comprises three half-tons.

After the horror 2013 Ashes series, Haynes was out of action for around three-and-a-half years. She even considered quitting cricket as he had a full-time job. But her meeting with NSW cricket chiefs - Andrew Jones and David Moore - resulted in her making an international comeback in February 2017. She made it to the World Cup squad and Haynes led Australia in a couple of matches when Meg Lanning wasn’t fully fit.

Later in the same year, she was named as Australia’s captain for the Ashes as Meg Lanning was ruled out of the series due to an injury. Haynes led her side to an Ashes win at home. Haynes played as a middle-order batter in the 2018 WT20 and played a vital role in Australia winning the title for the fourth time.

Did you know: Rachel Haynes is only the second player after Belinda Clark to have captained both NSW and Victoria in a WNCL match.