As Australia prepare for next month’s T20 World Cup in the UK, we look back at how each squad member performed in WBBL|11
On June 13, Australia will begin their quest for a record-extending seventh ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title when they take on South Africa at Old Trafford in their first match of the tournament.
Despite their success in World Cups, where they’ve claimed 13 titles across ODI and T20I cricket, Australia will enter the tournament without currently holding an ICC trophy, demonstrating a potential changing of the guard across the women’s cricket landscape.
Eyeing their first piece of ICC silverware since 2023, here’s how the 15-player squad fared in the latest edition of the nation’s premier domestic T20 competition – the Weber WBBL – held last November and December.
Australian captain Sophie Molineux was instrumental in breaking her club’s women’s Big Bash title drought in WBBL|10, but last season was challenging for the allrounder. After missing the first three games of the season due to a minor quad strain, the 28-year-old managed to play six matches.
After making a run-a-ball 32 against the Melbourne Stars in the Derby in her first match, Molineux struggled to find her best form in WBBL|11, registering just 96 runs while taking three wickets.
Having re-signed with the Hobart Hurricanes in July last year, Nicola Carey’s decision to stay in Tasmania for WBBL|11 was vindicated when she helped her club lift their first women’s Big Bash trophy. The 32-year-old started the tournament in fine fashion, making 58 not out against the Brisbane Heat at Allan Border Field in a statement win for the eventual champions.
Opening the bowling for the Hurricanes across the competition, the allrounder took multiple wickets in three matches and she was the club’s most economical bowler in the WBBL|11 Final.
Named as the Sydney Sixers’ new skipper just days before the season, Ashleigh Gardner’s captaincy debut couldn’t have gone any better. She took her best figures in the Big Bash (5-15) against Perth Scorchers at the WACA Ground, setting the tone for an outstanding tournament that saw her rewarded with a place in the WBBL|11 Team of the Tournament.
Finishing the competition as the equal-leading wicket-taker with 19 wickets, Gardner led her side into the finals, before they were trumped by the Scorchers in The Challenger.
Claiming 14 wickets in WBBL|11, Melbourne Stars speedster Kim Garth achieved her best return in a Big Bash campaign in four years.
Recognised in the WBBL|11 Team of the Tournament, Garth’s ability to pick up wickets with the new ball demonstrated her prowess in the competition, highlighted by an scintillating spell of 4-3 at North Sydney Oval, as her side knocked over the Sixers for just 42.
Lucy Hamilton, who turned 20 last week, made headlines in WBBL|10 when she claimed her first five-wicket haul in the Big Bash. Fast forward to WBBL|11 and the left-arm quick was continuing to cause problems for some of the world’s best batters, including former Australian captain Meg Lanning.
After taking eight wickets at an economy of 7.39 throughout the competition, the Heat left-armer claimed the WBBL|11 Young Gun award despite a trying campaign for her side who ended the season without a win. Having now made her international debuts in Test, ODI and T20I cricket, Hamilton’s heroic summer has seen her earn her place in Australia’s World Cup squad.
Injury hampered Heat opener Grace Harris’ WBBL|11 campaign with the heavy-hitting Queenslander playing just four matches. The 32-year-old’s highest score of the competition (46) came against the Scorchers on November 12, but it was an innings made in vain as the Heat fell 23 runs short of Perth.
Harris picked up her only two wickets of the tournament against the Strikers on November 30, but that wasn’t enough to stop the Adelaide Strikers from recording a six-wicket win over Brisbane.