Coach rates Hobart Hurricanes as her best WBBL team ever
The best Hobart Hurricanes team ever assembled hopes to get their Big Bash off to a flyer against the Renegades in Hobart on Saturday.
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HURRICANES coach Salliann Beams has declared she has the best team ever assembled in purple as the Canes prepare to meet the Melbourne Renegades in their WBBL season at Blundstone Arena on Saturday.
Beams says she has the depth and experience she needs to drive the Cane Train deep into the summer.
The acquisition of former South African captain Mignon du Preez was a boon to the batting attack, but Beams is most pleased with her depth, and particularly the addition of teenager pace bowler Angie Genford, of Sydney, and teenage all-rounder Ruth Johnston, of Queensland.
“I really like the balance of the squad,” Beams said.
“We’ve got a lot of good players. Angie Genford has come in with the ball. She’s an exciting young player and she’s excited to join us.
“We recognised we needed to add power through the middle and seeing Ruth Johnston play for the Raiders, she definitely delivered that with a strike rate of over 140.
“Then we’ve got Molly Strano, who brings lots of experience and she’s leading wicket-taker of the competition, so she should help back our power-play bowling.”
Beams hopes more experience means more wins.
“In the past two seasons we’ve lacked that experience, whether it’s in the power play or at the death, and making sure we’ve got enough runs to be competitive,” she said.
“We have really focused on making sure we’ve got a strong batting unit and we want to bat as deep as we can,” she said.
“If you look at other teams their best batters bat for the longest periods of an innings.
“So we went back to the drawing board and recruited hard and I think we’ve got the players we needed.”
Beams even dubbed it the Hurricanes’ best squad.
“Definitely,” she said.
“When you come into a new environment you inherit a team and I inherited a team that was set in for two years.
“It took us a bit of time to build it across that journey.
“I feel like I recognise what the competition needs now and we’ve got good experience players.
“We’ve been in situations where we’ve been in winning positions and lost at the last hurdle.
“The difference between winning and losing those games is experienced players and now we’ve got that experience.”
Run machine Mignon du Preez ready to ‘get out of the box’ for Hurricanes debut
THE Hurricanes’ new attacking weapon Mignon du Preez says she is itching to get out of hotel quarantine and help lead the Canes to victory in their season opener this weekend.
Speaking via video chat from hotel quarantine in Adelaide on Monday, the former South African captain said she couldn’t wait to arrive in Hobart later this week to finally join her new teammates before taking the field with them on Saturday.
“I’m super excited,” she said.
“I think being stuck in a room for 14 days has given me that hunger to get out of the box and I’m really excited that’s over soon and I can join up with the team in the next couple of days and hopefully we are all ready to go for our opening game.”
Du Preez joined the Canes from WBBL|06 finalists the Melbourne Stars, where she had played the entirety of her WBBL career so far, and said she was excited to swap the green for purple for WBBL|07.
“I was looking for a new challenge and opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and I think playing for the Hurricanes will allow me to do that and so I’m really excited about the new journey ahead,” she said.
“Being in quarantine it was really nice to be able to watch cricket all the time and I really think we have a good squad with a good mixture of experienced players with a lot of exciting youngsters and from what I’ve seen they bring a lot of energy so I’m really excited about meeting them soon and playing with the Hurricanes this season.”
Du Preez is South Africa’s all-time leading ODI and Twenty20 run scorer and has represented her country over 240 times throughout her career, compiling an impressive total of 5312 runs across all three formats of the game.
After racking up 380 runs across 13 innings at a strike rate of 122.9 in WBBL|06, du Preez is confident she can bolster the Canes’ batting line-up for WBBL|07.
“I think over the last couple of years they’ve had a really strong bowling attack but I think what was lacking was a little in the batting department and hopefully I can help with that a little bit this year and really take a senior role in the batting department for us this time around,” she said.
Du Preez will get her chance to prove her worth on Saturday in the Hurricanes’ season opener against the Melbourne Renegades at Blundstone Arena at 3.40pm.
The WBBL|07 officially begins on Thursday at Blundstone Arena when the Sydney Sixers take on the Sydney Stars at 7.40pm.
Due to Covid restrictions, Tasmania will be the home of the WBBL for the beginning of the competition as it hosts the first 24 games of the season, with the first nine to be played in Hobart, followed by 12 at UTAS Stadium, and three at Invermay Park in Launceston.
New captain to drive the Cane Train in WBBL
BLAZING batter Rachel Priest has been elevated to captain of the Hobart Hurricanes for WBBL|07 after she was voted the best player in purple last season.
The punishing right-hand batter and talented wicketkeeper only joined the Cane Train last year, and immediately made her mark, being awarded Hurricanes Player of the Tournament Award for WBBL|06.
The 36-year-old Kiwi was “honoured” to be crowned captain, replacing Corinne Hall.
“It’s definitely a huge honour to be asked to be captain, of any team, but from my time in Tasmania so far, I know what a proud cricketing state this, and what having this role really means,” Priest said.
“Even though I’ve been around cricket for a while now, I’ve continued to learn and evolve both as a player and as a person during my time here in Tassie.
“It’s a great group of girls we have this year _ on paper, from a cricket perspective _ but also off the field.
“I’m really excited to lead this group and see what we can achieve.”
Hurricanes coach Salliann Beams said Priest was a natural choice to fill the leadership position.
“We have a lot of fantastic leaders in our group, but when it came to naming the captain, it was a bit of a no-brainer,” Beams said.
“Not only is she a fantastic player, but she’s got a lot of experience playing cricket all over the world in all different conditions, and she’s also got a really great cricket brain.
“This will be ‘Priesty’s’ second season with us, which on one hand isn’t a lot of time, however, as she’s also a part of our Tigers group, she’s already spent a lot of time with the people involved with our program, and they all agree that she is the perfect person for this role.”
The Hurricanes WBBL|07 campaign gets underway next Saturday (October 16) when they take on the Melbourne Renegades at Blundstone Arena.
Hobart Hurricanes primed for WBBL opener in Hobart
HURRICANES bowler Chloe Rafferty is confident the Canes can kick-start their WBBL season with a win over Melbourne Renegades at Blundstone Arena on Saturday-week and said playing in a home-town bubble was a huge advantage.
With Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers finishing their quarantine on Thursday, Renegades finishing theirs on Friday, the Adelaide Strikers, Perth Scorchers and Brisbane Heat will fly in early next week.
The fourth-most watched sports tournament is about to shift into top gear in Tasmania, with the opening match between Sydney Sixers v Melbourne Stars at Blundstone Arena nest Thursday.
The first nine of the 24-game Tasmanian hub will be played in Hobart, followed by 12 at UTas Stadium three at Invermay Park in Launceston.
UTas Stadium’s drop-in decks are ready to go – Cricket Australia even flew in specialist curator Kevin Mitchell to supervise their finals stages of preparation.
Rafferty said the perfect way to start the season was with a win.
“It would be awesome,” she said.
“To start the new season with a win among a new group, there couldn’t be a better way to start the season.
“A lot of us know each other already and we have a new newbies coming out of quarantine shortly, so the group looks really good.”
As good as the Hurricanes’ bowling attack looks, Rafferty believes their strength will be with the bat.
“We have a grouse batting line-up with the likes of Mignon du Preez, Rachel Priest and Richa Ghosh,” she said.
“They are very experienced and successful international players so hopefully we get some more runs on the board than last year.
“Our bowling line-up looks nice and young and experienced too with the likes of Nicola Carey and Molly Strano.”
With nine WBBL games under her belt, Rafferty aims to “have a good time” this season.
“We had a grouse time last year in the hub, so we’re now looking to get some more wins on the board and I have no doubt we will,” she said.
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