Pace-bowling great reflects on her past and offers an insight into her goals after claiming her 300th international wicket
300 & counting: Schutt's future in sharp focus
After becoming just the second member of an exclusive club, Megan Schutt has silverware in her sights as she plots the next phase of her career.
Schutt collected her 300th international wicket in Delhi last Sunday, becoming just the second Australian woman to the milestone behind Ellyse Perry.
She combined with her captain and 'keeper Alyssa Healy for the stumped dismissal of Sneh Rana – a fitting outcome, given Healy took the catch that handed Schutt her first international wicket against New Zealand in 2012.
Schutt will again spearhead the Australian attack in her fourth ODI World Cup in India and Sri Lanka this month; an event that, a couple of years ago, she believed could be her international swansong.
Now, the 32-year-old South Australian hopes to at least play on until next year's T20 World Cup in England, a change in thinking that came about during last year's tournament in the United Arab Emirates.
"(It took) people (encouraging) me, in some ways – I didn't realise I needed that, but turns out I did," Schutt told cricket.com.au last month.
"Midway through the Dubai tournament, Sophie Molineux came up and sat next to me and was like, 'I think you should really reconsider this being your last T20 World Cup', meaning it in just a 'think about it' way.
"I hadn't really put a whole lot of thought into it until that moment ... and then we didn't win (in the UAE). I want to win, and to go out winning would be great.
"And I'm not saying that if we lose next year, that I will then go on to the next because I don't see that happening, but I just realised I have more to give.
"If I can still get nervous when I pull on an Australian kit, I know that I should still be there, so until that feeling goes, or my body goes – one of the two – then I'll keep playing as long as I can."
Looking back at the 19-year-old who made her debut for Australia against New Zealand at North Sydney Oval in 2012, Schutt said that version of herself could never have foreseen a long, successful career in the green and gold.
Let alone 300 international wickets.
"Not a chance in hell," she said. "I was extremely carefree and at the time that was probably good, but then I took a while to adjust to being an actual professional cricketer.
"I didn't really realise what an achievement it was when I first played for Australia, or had the exact realisation of what that meant and what I was signing up to."
The South Australian had a tumultuous run in her first few years of international cricket, finding herself in and out of Australia's best XI.
Part of that process was learning what was required of an international cricketer, while she also credited the arrival of former Australia coach Matthew Mott in early 2015 as a turning point in her career.
"(He taught) me how to have fun in the game again," she said. "I'm obviously quite a blunt character, I take the mickey a bit, and a lot of that got shut down in my early days of playing for Australia.
"I really did have reflections on, 'Do I want to do this? Like, I'm actually not happy in this environment – playing for Australia is great, but do I want to be here?'
"I got that love back when 'Motty' came in."
Australia's T20 World Cup triumph in 2018 was another transformative moment for Schutt, who found a new appreciation for the shortest format following that final in Antigua.
"There was probably another little shift of like: OK, maybe I really like the challenge of this format," she said.
"Fifty-over is still my preferred (format) but once we got the monkey off our back of actually winning a T20 World Cup – that was my first T20 World Cup win – I was like, 's***, yeah, this is what I want to repeat'."
It's unsurprising, then, that of Schutt's 300 international wickets, the two she rates as the most significant have their roots in those transformative moments.
The first of those was Schutt's dismissal of then-England captain Charlotte Edwards during the 2015 Ashes Test in Canterbury.
That tour was Schutt's first under Mott and saw her finally consolidate her place at international level.
The dismissal itself came in the first innings, when she produced one of the best balls of the match to take the top of Edwards' off stump, removing the England captain for 30. Australia's win in that Test ultimately paved the way to their first Ashes win in England since 2001.
"That was the real shift in my career – Matthew Mott's come in, taken over the team, and really allowed me to be myself and amongst that refreshing-ness, I found some good cricket," she said.
The other, five years later, came in the shortest format in the 2020 T20 World Cup.
Much of the talk in the lead-up to the final at the MCG had been about the showdown between Schutt, Australia's leading T20 pace bowler, and India's swashbuckling teenage opener Shafali Verma.
It's a dismissal that would immediately spring to mind for many Australian fans: Schutt catching the edge of Verma's bat in the opening over of India's chase, prompting an enormous roar from the 86,174 fans at the MCG.
"To hear the roar – that one, you can't get out the back of your head. That's a pretty special one."
It's not just the hunger for a third ODI World Cup title, or a fourth T20 World Cup title that remains on Schutt's to-do list.
She also wants to win another Women's National Cricket League title with South Australia, and taste success in an overseas franchise league – one of the few things Schutt has yet to achieve in the game.
"Hopefully I can snag a couple of years post-Australian (career) in the red (of SA) still," she said. "(Winning overseas) would be really cool to because I'm so passionate about the Big Bash and playing for South Australia and Strikers, and those moments have been so special, so to do that with another franchise would actually be really cool."
Beyond her playing days, Schutt is far from locking in her long-term direction, but she has recently discovered a taste for coaching after completing her level three course.
"I think I went in doubting if I could transfer knowledge, or if I'm enough of a people person and all that, and then you realise you've been doing those things anyway as a senior player," she said.
"It was a good realisation for me of what I can do in that area, if I have the passion for the game – which I think I'm going to – post-cricket to want to pursue it.
"I think the hardest part will be relinquishing control … I can't control what happens on the field, and I'm going to hate that.
"It's just more of an option, that's not my absolute plan … I'm a 'wing it' kind of person – whatever I fall into, I'm all the eggs in one basket – and I can't possibly think about what I'm going to do until I've given up what I love in this moment.
"But if coaching happens to come into play, then I'll absolutely just roll with it."
Sharp Schutter: Marking the milestone wickets
Wicket No.1
Lucy Doolan c Alyssa Healy b Megan Schutt
(Australia v New Zealand, North Sydney Oval, Dec 2012)
Schutt made her international debut on December 17, 2012 at North Sydney Oval, taking the new ball alongside Ellyse Perry. Her five overs went wicketless on a day best remembered for Meg Lanning’s 45-ball century, but Schutt got her first scalp at the same ground two days later. "It was 50-over cricket, it was Lucy Doolan with a terrible ball down the leg side ... yeah, I remember that," Schutt said.
Wicket No.50
Smriti Mandhana b Megan Schutt
(Australia v India, Blundstone Arena, Feb 2016)
Schutt struck at a critical time for Australia in the second of three one-dayers against India on home soil in 2016. Smriti Mandhana had just brought up a century and the tourists were 2-184 after 39 overs. But Mandhana did no further damage after Schutt rattled her stumps.
Wicket No.100
Fran Wilson b Megan Schutt
(Australia v England, Manuka Oval, Nov 2017)
Tasked with bowling the 20th over as England batted first in the second of three Ashes T20Is in Canberra in November 2017, Schutt put the tourists on the back foot when she bowled Fran Wilson and just four runs were scored off the over – although the visitors did go on to win the game.
Wicket No.150
Lauren Winfield-Hill c Delissa Kimmince b Megan Schutt
(England v Australia, Hove, Jul 2019)
With the Ashes already won after the first T20I in Chelmsford, the party continued for the Australians in Brighton. Schutt removed Winfield-Hill for 12 as the hosts were kept to 8-121, a target Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry reeled in with 2.1 overs to spare.
Wicket No.200
Maddy Green b Megan Schutt
(New Zealand v Australia, Mount Maunganui, Apr 2021)
Schutt had already removed Hayley Jensen with her first ball of the match and rolled on when she had Amelia Kerr stumped on 33. She bowled Green to pick up a third, then bagged a fourth when Jess Kerr holed out, finishing with figures of 4-32 in an emphatic Australian victory.
Wicket No.250
Danni Wyatt c Jess Jonassen b Megan Schutt
(England v Australia, Bristol, Jul 2023)
Australia were trying to claw their way back into the game after England made a rapid start to their pursuit of a target of 264, and Schutt chipped in with the wicket of Wyatt to stall the hosts' momentum, although skipper Heather Knight ultimately saw her team to a famous win.
Wicket No.300
Sneh Rana st Alyssa Healy b Megan Schutt
(India v Australia, Delhi, Sept 2024)
There was a fumble, but when Healy dislodged the bails to stump India's Sneh Rana in the third one-dayer in Delhi, Schutt had officially picked up wicket No.300.
2025 Women's ODI World Cup
Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
Australia's warm-up match
September 28: v England, Bengaluru, Bengaluru, 7:30pm AEST
Australia's group stage matches
October 1: v New Zealand, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 7:30pm AEST
October 4: v Sri Lanka, R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7:30pm AEST
October 8: v Pakistan, R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 8:30pm AEDT
October 12: v India, ACA-VDCA Stadium Visakhapatnam, 8:30pm AEDT
October 16: v Bangladesh, ACA-VDCA Stadium Visakhapatnam, 8:30pm AEDT
October 22: v England, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT
October 25: v South Africa, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT
Finals
Semi-final 1: Guwahati or Colombo*, October 29, 8:30pm AEDT
Semi-final 2: Mumbai, October 30, 8:30pm AEDT
Final: Mumbai or Colombo*, November 2, 8:30pm AEDT
All matches to be broadcast exclusively live and free on Prime Video.