Meet Ruby Strange: from BITS Cricket Club to Brisbane Heat WBBL squad

Central Queensland’s Ruby Strange has made every post a winner since her chance recruitment as a primary schoolgirl. A former coach reflects on her journey and the key ingredient that has led to her success.

Tannum Sands' all-rounder Ruby Strange has been called into the Brisbane Heat WBBL squad.

It was a player shortage in the schoolgirl ranks that led to the chance recruitment of one of Queensland’s most exciting cricket prospects.

Tannum Sands’ all-rounder Ruby Strange has just been named in the Brisbane Heat’s WBBL squad, a decade on from when she first tried her hand at the game.

She replaces fellow Central Queensland product Bonnie Berry after the teenage pace bowler was ruled out with a back stress fracture.

Ruby Strange playing for the Brisbane Heat in the T20 Spring Challenge. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Strange, 21, donned the teal for the first time in the inaugural T20 Spring Challenge pre-season campaign, producing a strong showing in which she played six matches with a best bowling effort of 4-35.

She said she was “absolutely stoked” to have earned a shot at the Australian women’s domestic Twenty20 competition.

Scott Pitt, one of Strange’s former coaches, is equally excited about her elevation to the WBBL squad.

Hard work is the recurring theme when he recalls her formative years at BITS Cricket Club.

“She was a natural sports person but she always worked really hard to get the most out of that talent,” Pitt said.

Ruby Strange won the Tracey Slatter Female with Most Potential award in 2017.

“It’s her work ethic that’s got her where she is; her dedication and application are incredible.

“She was an easy kid to coach; she would always listen and was eager to learn and she did it all with a smile on her face.”

Pitt remembers it was one of Strange’s friends who was instrumental in her introduction to the game.

“Ruby was a Tannum Sands Primary School student and Stephen White was selecting the Port Curtis girls team and they didn’t have enough players,” he said.

“One of the girls who was picked, Jessie Singh, said she had a friend called Ruby Strange who was a good sportsman and would probably go all right.

Ruby Strange representing Capricornia at the schoolgirls championships.

“So in front of Mr White, in the humble confines of the school tennis nets, Ruby made her first cricket representative team.

“Ruby represented the under-12 Port Curtis team at Capricornia. They had a speed gun on her and she was the fastest bowler there.”

Strange would go on to be selected in the first of many Queensland underage teams.

On the club front, she won the Tracey Slatter Female with Most Potential award in 2017 and Gladstone Cricket Junior Player of the Year in 2018.

Scott and another of the club’s long-serving coaches, Nev Judd, coached Strange in the under-17 team that won the premiership in the 2017/2018 season.

Ruby Strange and her BITS teammates after they won the under-17 premiership in the 2017/18 season.

She was also a member of the BITS Colts team, playing in that division until she left Gladstone in 2021 to go to university in Brisbane.

Her career continued to flourish with Western Suburbs, becoming a two-time winner of the Kath Smith Medal as the best player in the Katherine Raymont Shield in the Queensland Premier Cricket competition.

Strange was also selected in the Australian Country squad earlier this year after Queensland’s win at the national championships.

Pitt said he and Judd would be glued to their television screens when Strange made her WBBL debut.

All-rounder Ruby Strange has secured her place in the Brisbane Heat's WBBL squad after a strong showing in the T20 Spring Challenge.

“It’s been a fascinating journey and I’m sure her family would be extraordinarily proud,” he said.

Judd concurred, saying it was exciting for everyone who had witnessed her incredible rise.

“For her to move down to Brisbane, away from home and family, and star in the Premier Grade of women’s cricket and achieve what she has is a remarkable feat,” he said.

“A lot of kids have given it a go from Gladstone and Central Queensland and not made it but for Ruby, I have a feeling this is just the start of her professional cricket experience.”