Ahead of the Adelaide Strikers WBBL season starting on October 19, the side announces a trio of players have penned one-year contracts with the electric blue
Adelaide Strikers continue to build an impressive list ahead of the start of the fifth season of the Women’s Big Bash League, announcing the re-signing of three local players
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A trio of cricketers have penned one-year deals to stay at the Adelaide Strikers as the electric blues continue to build an impressive squad ahead of the start of the historic first stand-alone season of the Women’s Big Bash League from October 19.
A week after announcing West Indian captain Stafanie Taylor and English batter Lauren Winfield would join the team, now Adelaide has announced off-spinner Alex Price, wicketkeeper Tegan McPharlin and batter Annie O’Neil have committed to the Strikers for this fifth season of the WBBL.
Price, 23, is thrilled to rejoin the team as it builds towards a long-awaited inaugural WBBL championship.
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“We’ve got a really strong side, we’ve said that for a few years now but hopefully this is the right combination,” she said.
“We’ve had such a core group for so long we all really get along and that’s No. 1 when you’re playing cricket.
“Hopefully this year we can have fun and make finals. And adding Stafanie and Lauren to the team, I’m really excited to see where this group can go.”
Price is also pleased to again be playing alongside the Kiwi opening batting duo of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine — dubbed the “Smash Sisters” — who were also high-profile re-signings, because, she admits, she loves them “a bit too much”.
“Both of them bring this energy that not a lot of people have,” she said.
“They’re awesome teammates to have and I like to partner up with Soph and be a bit of a pest with her, so that’s always fun.
“Suzie’s just awesome to have around the group, she’s really smart, cricket-wise.”
O’Neil, 20, is a feel-good addition, having been dropped from the squad last season after having earnt a contract for WBBL03.
She said that after working hard, she was thrilled to regain a contract for the WBBL05, in particular spending a lot of time in the nets refining her batting as well as having lots of conversations with incoming coach Luke Williams.
“I think Luke knew what I was capable of and I’m really grateful that he’s given me the opportunity again,” she said.
“I’ve been working with him on what I need to adapt and what I can improve on so that I can be quite a useful player for them this year.
“I never gave up hope … I knew my strengths and I knew I could be a really good T20 batter and be quite an athletic fielder for the Strikers, so it was more so just increasing my skills and backing my abilities rather than going into myself and not tinking I was good enough or anything like that.”
She said she hoped to make her Big Bash debut this season.
Meanwhile, team veteran Tegan McPharlin, 31, who has been with the Strikers since their inaugural season five years ago said she’d enjoyed an excellent pre-season and was loving her cricket since quitting her job last year to concentrate solely on her game.
“I’m happy with how I’m hitting the ball, how I’m catching the ball and if I can put it all out on the park, that would be really good,” she said.
Price became something of a viral hit during the previous WBBL for her on-air, on-field commentary that featured her signings Whitney Houston songs and being set challenges by her teammates to insert obscure words into her broadcast comments.
Price, a special needs teacher, admits she loves music.
“I really like Amy Winehouse, I’ve got her record that I play at home and I listen to Valerie quite often,” she said.
“When I was in the under-18s for state cricket, all the girls would tell me to turn it off because I used to play it, literally every day. But I keep it to myself now, with my headphones.”
She said she was most looking forward to working with import Taylor about how she could improve her own game.
“As a fellow off-spinner I’m really excited to learn from Stafanie … she’s a very talented and seasoned campaigner in the international cricket stakes,” she said.
The Strikers are expected to announce the final signing for their squad early next week, ahead of their opening game against the Melbourne Renegades on Saturday, October 19, at Karen Rolton Oval.