Laura Cardoso is 21, Brazilian, and she just posted bowling figures most Test nations would frame. Nine wickets. Four runs. Brazil’s women beat Lesotho in a T20 international, the same format heading to Los Angeles 2028.
Nine wickets in three overs
Ten wickets in an innings. She took nine of them herself across three overs. Ninety percent of the dismissals. That is absurd. I had to read the scorecard twice.
“I am very happy with this moment and still trying to process everything that happened on the field. When I went out to play, my focus was helping the team win, ball by ball, but everything clicked in a special way. Taking nine wickets in a match is something I never imagined, especially representing Brazil.”
Laura Cardoso
World record, Olympic timing
Those numbers beat Bhutan’s Sonam Yeshey on the men’s side (8 for 7 in 2025) and Indonesia’s Rohmalia Rohmalia on the women’s side (7 for 0 in 2024). Cricket is back in the Olympics after 128 years away. Brazil already runs a professional women’s programme, and Cardoso just handed that project a global headline it could not buy.
One night does not book an Olympic berth. It does tell you Brazil is not only showing up for the photo.
