Few debates in cricket inspire as much passion as the age-old “GOAT” discussion, the search for the Greatest of All Time. In the men’s game, the arguments can stretch endlessly from Don Bradman to Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli; in the women’s game, however, the conversation is evolving rapidly as the sport enjoys unprecedented growth, visibility, and legends of its own making.
On the latest episode of the For the Love of Cricket podcast, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, and Ebony Rainford-Brent dived into the women’s GOAT debate, centring on Australian great Meg Lanning, with inevitable comparisons to Ellyse Perry, Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Sarah Taylor.
Ebony Rainford-Brent: “Meg Lanning is up there”
Ebony Rainford-Brent set the ball rolling by declaring, “I think Meg Lanning is just up there with the greatest players.”
Hard to argue. Across formats, the Australian right-hander has been a run machine and an inspirational leader. Her ODI legacy is particularly striking: 4,602 runs at a strike rate of 92.2 and an average of 53.51 in 103 matches, including 15 centuries. In T20Is, she sits at the very top of the format’s history with 3,405 runs at a strike rate of 116.37, guiding Australia to multiple World Cup wins.
Even in her brief Test career of 12 innings, she showed resilience with 345 runs. But what places her in GOAT contention more than stats is her impact as captain. Until her retirement from international cricket in November 2023, she captained Australia to five ICC titles, setting new standards for leadership in the women’s game. She also led her side to the Gold Medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
And remarkably, even in the post-international retirement stint of her career, she is still scoring heavily. Representing Oval Invincibles in The Hundred 2025, she leads the tournament charts with 268 runs at 141.05 SR, proof that her hunger and class remain undimmed.
Jos Buttler: “Sarah Taylor really changed the game”
While the panel was quick to acknowledge Lanning’s stature, Jos Buttler, himself one of cricket’s most innovative wicketkeepers, tipped his hat to another icon, “I’m going to throw in Sarah Taylor. As a wicketkeeper, she really changed the game.”
Taylor’s numbers, over 4,000 ODI runs and 2,177 T20I runs, adorned with 23 international fifties, only tell half the story. It was her lightning-fast work behind the stumps, redefining what women’s wicketkeeping could look like, that inspired a generation of players. Buttler’s point is clear: greatness is not always about volume of runs, but also about transformative influence on the sport.
Ellyse Perry: The Gold Standard of All-round Brilliance
Inevitably, the conversation drifted toward Ellyse Perry, the all-rounder who has defied cricketing orthodoxy with her dual dominance. Perry’s Test average of 58.12 with the bat, coupled with 39 wickets at 21.82, alone might have ensured her status in cricketing folklore. Add to that 4,187 ODI runs at 48.68 and 166 wickets, plus over 2,000 T20I runs and 126 wickets, and Perry arguably represents the most complete cricketer, male or female, of the modern era. To add to her multi-talented legacy, she has also represented Australia in a Football World Cup.
Though not as attacking a captain as Lanning, Perry’s all-round mastery is undeniable. She remains a central figure for Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred, adding depth to the GOAT claims swirling around her name.
Nat Sciver-Brunt: The Under-rated Contender
While Rainford-Brent and Buttler’s picks framed much of the debate, one cannot ignore the rise of England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt. With over 4,000 ODI runs at 46.50 and nearly 3,000 T20I runs, her CV as an all-rounder becomes even more compelling when you factor in bowling returns across all formats.
Currently captaining England and dominating The Hundred, she became the first player to surpass 1,000 career runs in the tournament’s history. Sciver-Brunt is building a career trajectory that could well place her in future GOAT arguments.
The Verdict: So, who claims the women’s cricket GOAT status?
Rainford-Brent’s vote for Lanning reflects her decade-long dominance and legacy as a serial-winning leader. Buttler’s nod to Taylor reminds us that influence and innovation count just as much as raw statistics. Perry, meanwhile, represents unprecedented all-round excellence, while Sciver-Brunt is the modern challenger carrying England’s hopes into the next era.
Perhaps the best answer came not from any one player, but from Stuart Broad’s lighthearted facilitation of the debate: the true beauty of the women’s game right now is that it has multiple GOAT candidates, a sure sign of its current depth and vitality.
“Well, we’ve made no decision on that GOAT at all. So we’ve just sat on the fence. Because I’ve got the last word, I’m going to say, Ellyse Perry, well done, you’re the GOAT of the Love Cricket Podcast, because that’s my opinion.” Stuart Broad crowned Ellyse Perry as the winner of the ultimate “GOAT” Debate in the Women’s game to sign off the segment in the podcast.
(Quotes sourced from For the Love of Cricket Podcast)
