The ongoing edition of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) is the landmark 10th edition of the tournament. The Australian domestic franchise tournament has completed a decade since its inception in the year 2015 and the WBBL has shortlisted players to form the Team of the Decade.
The experts forming the team will have their tasks cut out to form a best-balanced playing 11, with a plethora of options as many as 50 players to choose from. One of the toughest part is going to be to pick the top order with the kind of quality, local and international stars that graced the league over the years.
Chaired by Cricket Australia Director Clea Smith, the panel includes Mel Jones, Lisa Sthalekar, Matthew Mott, Quentin Hull, Laura Jolly and Alistair Dobson. Fans will also have the chance to select their Team of the Decade, with the public voting open between November 11-24 on the Big Bash App. The expert panel will then review and combine public votes with their own selections to finalise the 12-player side, which will be announced at the WBBL 10 Final, December 1.
The panel will then review and combine public votes with their own selections to finalise the 12-player side, which will be announced at the Weber WBBL|10 Final on Sunday, December 1.
The list of players includes all the players who have won the Player of the Tournament awards – Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney, Amy Satterthwaite, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Harmanpreet Kaur, Ashleigh Gardner and Chamari Athapaththu – in the WBBL over the years. The title-winning skippers Alex Blackwell, Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Rachael Haynes, Sophie Devine, and Tahlia McGrath, the two-time winning skipper are also a part of the shortlisted players to form a WBBL Team of the Decade.
Openers: The wicket-keeper batter Beth Mooney could probably be the top contender to find a spot in the side for her consistency, scoring 400+ runs in every season, translating in leading the WBBL run-scoring charts with close to 5,000 runs (4,809 runs at a sensational average of 47.14 in 134 innings). Rachael Haynes who represented Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League through her WBBL career. She ended her career as the leading run-scorer for her franchise with 2,142 runs in WBBL. The other contenders to take up the opening slot could be Hayley Matthews, Meg Lanning, Laura Wolvaardt, Lizelle Lee, Alyssa Healy, Suzie Bates, Katie Mack, Danielle Wyatt-Hodge can be the options to open the innings.
Number 3,4,5 slots: Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Mignon du Preez, Harmanpreet Kaur, Marizanne Kapp, Nicole Bolton, Alex Blackwell, Nicola Carey, Heather Graham, Heather Knight, Tahlia McGrath, Rachel Priest, Georgia Redmayne, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Annabel Sutherland, Elyse Villani, Stafanie Taylor and Dane van Niekerk, Amy Satterthwaite are some of the available options to form a formidable middle order.
Numbers 6, 7, and 8 (lower middle-order): Ashleigh Gardner, the Harris sisters, (Grace and Laura), Jess Jonassen, Sophie Molineux, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Georgia Wareham, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Tegan McPharlin, Jess Duffin, Alana King are some of the options that can form a solid lower middle order.
Numbers 9, 10, and 11: Nicola Hancock, Hannah Darlington, Molly Strano, Samantha Bates, Megan Schutt, Sarah Coyte, Lauren Cheatle, Rene Farrell, Delissa Kimmince, Sarah Aley are an impressive set of bowling options to pick from for the WBBL Team of the Decade.
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