England cricket is rolling out its version of Australia’s Women’s Big Bash and four WHITE FERNS are in among the big names signed up for its first flurry this winter.
Short and sharp, when the new T20 Super League competition launches in late July, Suzie Bates, Rachel Priest, Sara McGlashan and Sophie Devine will be among the 18 international stars to pad up for one of the six teams.
Welcome to the Southern Vipers, @SuzieWBates, @sjmac7 & @megan_schutt!#BewaretheVipers pic.twitter.com/ubDC4T3EI7
— Southern Vipers (@VipersKSL) April 14, 2016
Each of the teams — the Lancashire Thunder, Southern Vipers, Western Storm, Surrey Stars, Loughborough Lightning and Yorkshire Diamonds — is permitted to sign up to three international stars.
That will see a super-experienced Kiwi combo of McGlashan and Bates join forces as teammates for the Southern Vipers. They’ll be based at The Ageas Bowl, alongside Australian right-arm seamer Megan Schutt.
World class Sophie Devine. PHOTOSPORT
Loughborough Lightning has scored the big-hitting services of Sophie Devine, T20 world record holder and, as they exclaim, “one of the most exciting allrounders in the world”.
Devine will have excellent company there in the form of Australia’s Ellyse Perry and South Africa’s Dane van Niekerk — quite the power all-round trio for the team centred in Leicestershire.
Taking them on will be Rachel Priest, heading behind the stumps for Western Storm. Priest is teaming up with the West Indies’ 2016 World Twenty20 player of the tournament Stafanie Taylor — well known to New Zealand players after her stints with the Auckland Hearts in recent years; and hard-hitting middle order bat Lizelle Lee from South Africa.
BREAKING: Western Storm sign Stafanie Taylor, Rachel Priest and Lizelle Lee!
— Western Storm (@WesternStormKSL) April 14, 2016
🌪🌪🌪🌪🌪#StormIsComing pic.twitter.com/1kM66rBXvw
ECB Director of England Women’s Cricket Clare Connor notes that the six teams are “all brimming with talent, quality, and the very best female cricketers from across the world — a brilliant showcase for the women’s game.”
After playing for the Melbourne Renegades in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash earlier this year, WHITE FERNS opener and keeper Priest is excited about the development of yet another competition to populate an international calendar for women — keeping players in the thick of the action for more of the year, affording more experiences and game time through which to sharpen their craft and push out the boundaries.
“It just brings the women’s game forward, getting to play with and against all the best players in the world and obviously English players as well,” says Priest.
Great to be joining @LightningKSL in Leicestershire this Summer! Any local tips @grantelliottnz? #CatchTheLightning pic.twitter.com/8I8UTceYSr
— Sophie Devine (@sophdevine77) April 14, 2016
Like Bates and Devine, “Priesty” was in the top dozen run-scorers at the recent ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as well as being its leading keeper after three sharp catches and two stumpings.
Formerly buried down the order in a more traditional keeper’s slot, she had hit the form of her life in 2015 as she embraced a reinvention as hard-hitting opening batsman.
The New Plymouth-born Wellington Blaze star’s ability to stand and deliver with almost breezy pick-ups and power-packed pull shots saw her begin 2015 with a strong series against the touring England women — a side that featured the woman who will captain her at Western Storm, allrounder Heather Knight.
Priest chalked up a then-career best unbeaten 96 when the WHITE FERNS crushed England in Mt Maunganui in the one-day format, and she went on to go that one shot better against Sri Lanka at the start of our most recent summer, posting an emotional maiden century in Lincoln during the whitewash. Then she scored another against them for good luck.
The Storm will be based in Taunton and Gloucestershire, an area Priest remembers fondly from her first visit there with the WHITE FERNS in 2007 — her first year in the team, and only her second international series, after having made her debut on tour against Australia.
“I loved playing in England when I first went there, so I’m really looking forward to it.”
The competition starts on 30 July (England time) with Devine’s side the first to see action, and then continues to mid-August — a timely warm-up for the WHITE FERNS’ October tour to South Africa.
Super league schedule
