Betty Snowball

Who was Betty Snowball?

Elizabeth "Betty" Alexandra Snowball is best known as an English sportswoman. She played international cricket in the England women's cricket team, and also played international squash and lacrosse. She scored 189 runs against New Zealand in the fourth women's Test match in 1935, setting a world record for the highest individual innings in women's Test cricket which was not surpassed for over 50 years, until Sandhya Agarwal scored 190 in 1986. It remains the highest Test score by an Englishwoman.

She was born in Burnley, Lancashire, and became an opening batsman and wicketkeeper. She played in 10 Test matches from 1934 to 1949, including the first women's Test against Australia in Brisbane in 1934. She toured to Australia twice. She scored 613 runs at a batting average of 40.86. Behind the stumps, she took 13 catches and 8 stumpings.

After her cricketing career, she retired to Colwall in Herefordshire to teach cricket and mathematics at The Elms School, where Michael Singleton was headmaster. She died in Colwall.