London: English women’s cricketing great Rachael Heyhoe-Flint who captained them to victory in the 1973 World Cup has died aged 77, the MCC announced Wednesday.

Heyhoe Flint, who played for England in 22 Tests and 23 One Day Internationals from her debut in 1960 to her retirement in 1982, captained the side for a 12 year period from 1966-78.

Heyhoe-Flint, who scored three Test centuries most famously a marathon 8 1/2 hour series saving 179 at The Oval in 1976 against Australia, was a pathfinder in many ways for English women’s cricket.

She was the first woman to captain the team in a Test at Lord’s in the same 1976 series against the Australians and the first female to be elected onto the MCC’s full committee in 2004.

She also became the first woman cricketer to be inducted into the sport’s Hall of Fame in 2010 and such was her renown that back in 1973 she became the first female sports presenter on British television when ITV hired her.

She became a director of English football side Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1997 and in 2011 became a member of the British Parliament’s Upper Chamber the House of Lord’s at the invitation of then Prime Minister David Cameron.