Rising Adelaide Strikers star Darcee Brown ‘humbled’ to win WBBL’s Young Gun award

She can count Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney and Sophie Devine among her victims, so it’s no surprise Australia’s newest speed demon cleaned up the WBBL’s Young Gun award.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 07: Darcie Brown of the Strikers celebrates with team mates after taking the wicket of Jess Jonassen of the Heat during the Women's Big Bash League WBBL match between the Brisbane Heat and the Adelaide Strikers at North Sydney Oval, on November 07, 2020, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

She’s only just finished high school but Adelaide Strikers quick Darcie Brown has already achieved bowling speeds faster than bowlers twice her age.

So it’s only fitting that Brown, who was clocked bowling at speeds over a remarkable 125km/hr during the Strikers’ Big Bash campaign, was named the WBBL06 Young Gun of the tournament.

“I can’t really believe it at the moment, it will probably sink in a bit later, but I’m pretty humbled, it’s really cool,” she said.

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Darcie Brown took 10 wickets in an excellent WBBL campaign.

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Brown made headlines in 2019 when she was signed by the Strikers as a 16-year-old, making her the youngest cricketer – male or female – to do so.

She made a stunning WBBL debut against Hobart Hurricanes on October 25 as part of the Strikers’ eight-wicket win, finishing with figures of 3-13, including the scalp of Australian all-rounder Nicola Carey, whom she bowled for a duck.

While the Strikers missed out on a finals berth, Brown finished the tournament with 10 wickets to her name, and became renowned for dismissing the game’s biggest names: Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney and New Zealand internationals Sophie Devine and Amy Satterthwaite.

She also completed her Year 12 exams while studying inside Cricket Australia’s Sydney-based tournament hub.

“It’s the longest I’ve been away from my family,” the 17-year-old said, admitting she was looking forward to returning to Adelaide this week.

Brown said she looked forward to further developing her game and speed.

“I don’t know how much faster I can get, hopefully I can get a bit more consistent, and don’t bowl as many wides, but I suppose if I do more gym programs, strength will come and hopefully I can bowl a bit quicker,” she said.

Scorchers opener Devine described what it was like having faced a Brown bouncer during the tournament as: “She’s sharp, I think it’s really exciting, this tournament’s unveiled a couple of really quick bowlers which is great for the women’s game.

Capable of reaching 125km/hr, Darcie Brown turned quite a few heads.

“It’s going to get some old girls like me hurrying up a little bit and probably learning how to duck a bit better.

“I think she’s a really exciting talent.”

Devine has been named as the Player of the Tournament (back-to-back accolades for the 31-year-old who won it last year in Strikers colours), with 31 votes, beating out Melbourne Stars captain Meg Lanning on 29 votes and Sydney Thunder’s Heather Knight on 28 votes.

Strikers bowler Sarah Coyte – who was equal leading-wicket taker with 18 scalps – was named in the Team of the Tournament.

Why Stars are laughing all the way to the finals

New players, a new head coach, maturing juniors and a new-found jovial freedom both on and off the pitch have helped the Melbourne Stars align to reach their first-ever WBBL finals series.

The Stars, who welcomed back captain Meg Lanning from the Perth Scorchers for WBBL06, appointed a new coach in Trent Woodhill and recruited top English duo Nat Sciver and Katherine Brunt – finished top the ladder with eight wins and three losses.

They now take on the fourth-placed Scorchers in the first semi-final on Wednesday night for the right to play in Saturday’s final.

Scorchers v Stars brings together a intriguing battle between Sophie Devine and Meg Lanning

Lanning, who was named captain of the WBBL06 Team of the Tournament following a stellar campaign which included a league-best six half-centuries, paid tribute to the impact of all-rounder Sciver and quick bowler Brunt.

“They have brought experience to the team, but also a calmness, which is really important,” she said.

“But the fact that our younger players have had another season in the competition playing at the top level – someone like Tess Flintoff, who has had an excellent year and has been bowling at the death – is really important as well, because you need to have that depth in your squad … the key to us this year is that we don’t rely on one or two people.”

Lanning also praised the contribution of Woodhill.

“It’s been a challenging year, but he wanted us to enjoy each other’s company no matter what,” she said.

“He has an ability to make you feel really confident and want to chase the game and not be afraid to make mistakes and we all feel like we can play with freedom.”

While Woodhill has alluded to laughter as a key to the team’s connection, Lanning says the coach’s jokes are terrible.

“He thinks they’re funny, we laugh to make him feel better,” she says lightheartedly.

“But he has such great energy.”

Lanning has been in great form throughout the tournament.

The semi-final will be played at North Sydney Oval on a pitch that only last Sunday saw a combined 677 runs scored across two WBBL games.

And seeing this season’s top three run-scorers are playing – Scorchers openers Beth Mooney (524 runs) and Sophie Devine (448) and Lanning (458) – big scores are expected.

Lanning said breaking that Mooney/Devine partnership would be key to a Stars victory.

“They’ve formed a pretty formidable partnership up the top, but we’ll plan for the other players as well, they’ve got players in Nicole Bolton and Amy Jones who can certainly play a role as well,” she said.

But if Lanning’s learned one thing from this season, it’s that setting big targets won’t guarantee victory.

“In the past, 160, 170, very rarely would that get chased down … but you never feel safe anymore with your target, which shows how far the game’s come,” she said.

* WBBL06 semi-final: Melbourne Stars v Perth Scorchers, Wednesday, North Sydney Oval, 7pm.