By Ben Weir
Three years ago, Maddy Darke reached over the fence at a Sydney Sixers' game to grab a photo with Alyssa Healy.
Back then, Darke was a fan and Healy a star for Australia.
This season they will line up together.
Sydney Sixers players Alyssa Healy and Maddy Darke. Credit: Sam Mooy
Darke, 18, who has been a supporter of the team since its inception in 2015, described the chance to play for the side she supported as a kid is "phenomenally cool".
"I have watched the girls since probably the first season of the WBBL and I have always aspired to be a part of the Sixers group," Darke said. "So it's phenomenally cool and I'm just looking to enjoy it as much as I can."
Maddy Darke and Alyssa Healy in 2016.
Recounting the photo with Healy at Spotless Stadium in 2016, Darke, a wicketkeeper-batter, says she looks up to a number of players, including Healy and Ellyse Perry, and wants to learn as much as she can from them.
"Healy is pretty cool and in very good form at the moment,” Drake said. "I definitely look up to her a lot being a wicketkeeper as well.”
Darke is one of five teenagers in the Sixers squad this year and is yet to make her debut, but is contention for her first start against the Thunder on Friday. She has, however, played for Australia A on their recent tour of England, joining the squad as an injury replacement.
"It would be pretty special, to play and debut against the Thunder that would be pretty cool," she said.
Healy joked that the influx of younger players made her feel "uncomfortable" and old, but said she was excited to help nurture the next crop of talented youngsters.
"We have a lot of new faces, which really lifts the energy of the girls who have been part of the squad for a longer period of time," Healy said.
It is exciting ... even just doing the jersey presentations to see the emotion out of the young girls.
Alyssa Healy
The Sixers are among the favourites again this season with a squad that includes Australian stars Healy and Ashleigh Gardner at the top of the order, captain Perry and Erin Burns. South African internationals Marizanne Kapp and Dane van Niekerk will also return.
"It is exciting ... even just doing the jersey presentations to see the emotion out of the young girls about receiving a Sixers jersey," Healy said. "It reinforces that it is a special team to be a part of."
The Sixers take on the Thunder at North Sydney Oval on Friday in the WBBL season opener, which, for the first time, will be a standalone tournament.