Lilli Hamilton features for the Brisbane Heat in the T20 Spring Challenge

Toowoomba teenage cricket star Lilli Hamilton reveals the excitement and shock around her call-up to the Brisbane Heat for the T20 Spring Challenge.

Lilli Hamilton of the Heat celebrates dismissing Georgia Voll of the Thunder during the T20 Spring Challenge. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

 

Young Darling Downs cricketer Lilli Hamilton took the latest step in her career recently as she lined up for the Brisbane Heat in the women’s T20 Spring Challenge.

The year 11 student shared her shock and delight to don the Heat colours for the first time.

“It was awesome, I was very, very happy to be a part of it,” she said.

“I actually only got told the day before that I was going.

“I got told on the Wednesday and we flew out on the Thursday so I didn’t really have much time to like mentally process it, but it was pretty exciting.

“A lot (of players) in that Brisbane Heat team, I also played with them in club, so it is good to be a little more competitive with them.”

Despite the shock inclusion, Hamilton remained unfazed by the situation.

“It’s cricket after all, there’s nothing kind of different, I’ve bowled to most of the players that I was going to be bowling at so I just kind of broke into down into simple bits,” she said.

Hamilton was one of three Darling Downs cricketers to represent the Brisbane Heat in the competition, with Lucy Bourke and Kira Holmes both in the side as well.

Lilli Hamilton of the Heat bowls during the T20 Spring Challenge match between ACT Meteors and Brisbane Heat. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

“I have obviously played with Lucy in Darling Downs when she was 12 and I was like 9, so it’s good to kind of get back in the same team as her because we usually play club against each other, so it was a good experience to play with her again.

“When we were really young, she was that 12 year old, the really, really good one that you like look up to.

“Then we went to different clubs and we went about our own business but I looked up to her when I was young and became pretty good friends.”

It has been a whirlwind season for Hamilton already, as she was also an extended member of the Australian under-19 women’s team which competed against Sri Lanka and New Zealand recently.

“It was really good,” she said.

“I didn’t play, I was pulled in for the last couple of games to help out with drinks, 12th, 13th man kind of things but that was a good experience.

“(It was) good to get around a new group of girls because they are all from different states and obviously all my age so it was good to meet new people.

“It is actually a really good feeling … I was just like ‘I’m glad that they’re noticing what I’m doing at training and in the games and club cricket’.

“I was happy my work has paid off.”

The content summaries were created with the assistance of AI technology, then edited and approved for publication by an editor.

Originally published as Lilli Hamilton features for the Brisbane Heat in the T20 Spring Challenge