WBBL final: Canes star ‘shocked’ by team of year nod before historic decider
Hurricanes star Heather Graham admits she was ‘shocked’ by her inclusion in the WBBL team of the year, but has declared Hobart has the weapons to break its title duck on Saturday.
Hurricanes star Heather Graham has vowed to find her best form when it matters most, modestly describing her selection in the WBBL’s team of the year as a “shock” before Saturday’s decider in Hobart.
While the 29-year-old’s batting returns have been modest, partly due to the side’s top order dominance, she has been superb with the ball, taking the equal fifth-most wickets in the league (14).
Her economy rate of just under eight is outstanding given she bowls consistently in the power play, power surge and ‘death’ overs.
The all-rounder was joined by in-form opener Danni Wyatt Hodge in the league’s team of the year after the English recruit finished third on the league’s run scorer’s list with 416 runs at a strike rate of 145.96 and average of 52.
The 24-year-old scored four half centuries, with a top score of 90.
Graham cut a relaxed figure just two days out from the final, with the Hurricanes to play the winner of Thursday’s Sydney Sixers-Perth clash as they chase a maiden title.
“It (team of the year selection) was a bit of a shock, to be honest. The back end of the tournament personally has not been the greatest and definitely not how I’d like to have performed for the team,” Graham said.
“But I’ll take it with a pinch of salt and move forward and hopefully play a really good game Saturday night for the team.”
After their last regular season game was abandoned in bizarre scenes in Adelaide, the Hurricanes haven’t played a full game since December 1.
Graham has experienced a long layoff before winning a final before, with the Scorchers in 2022, and doesn’t believe it will be a major issue for Hobart.
“I’ve been fortunate to do it before with the Scorchers as well so I can see the positives in it, but obviously there are some cons in having time off,” she said.
“But you can get away for a few days and press the reset button. We came back in yesterday (Wednesday) with full group training and we’re knuckling down.
“We’re keeping things similar what we’ve done the whole tournament in terms of preparation.”
Graham said potentially lifting the trophy would be huge given the main core of the squad has remained relatively stable for several seasons.
“It would be massive, with what Sal (Cricket Tasmania high performance manager Salliann Beams) has been able to put together the last couple of yeas with this group,” Graham said.
“It’s been amazing to be a part of and the group (we have) this year, we can definitely lift the trophy.
“For Tassie in general it would be massive. Obviously with the boys winning it for the first time last year, for us to come out this year and lift that trophy would be massive for the organisation and Tassie as a whole.”
