The Sydney Sixers are set to welcome a host of fresh faces ahead of the inaugural T20 Spring Challenge, with matches beginning at North Sydney Oval tomorrow.
One of the most reliable performers in the domestic game, Mathilda Carmichael, will lead the side, with a new generation of up-and-coming young players joining the Sixers lineup.
The newly introduced domestic competition will feature four regular season matches for each team, followed by two semi-finals before the decider at Cricket Central on Sunday, October 20.
With the shortening of the Weber WBBL|10 competition to ten regular season matches for the season ahead, in alignment with the men’s Big Bash, the Spring Challenge will create more high-performance opportunities for local female players.
The Sixers will welcome a group of new faces, with Elsa Hunter, Lauren Kua, Frankie Nicklin, Caoimhe Bray and Lucy Finn, all set to line up for the club over the next two weeks.
NSW Breakers trio, Kua, Nicklin and Hunter, gain their first opportunity with a Big Bash club, while Bray and Finn join the squad on the back of recent performances at in the Australian Under 19 side.
The leading run-scorer in the NSW first-grade competition last summer, Malaysian born Lauren Kua notched 631 runs for Manly Warringah last summer, earning her first state contract with NSW this season.
Fellow first-year Breaker, Elsa Hunter, who was also born and raised in Malaysia, where she made her T20I debut at just 13-years-old, while Frankie Nicklin made her first appearance for the Breakers last summer, as a middle-order bat and off-swing bowler.
Touted as one of the stars of the future, Caoimhe Bray is no stranger to the big stage despite having just turned 15 in recent months.
A goalkeeper in the CommBank Junior Matildas squad, the dual athlete made her international debut during the AFC Under 17 Women’s Asia Cup in Indonesia in May earlier this year.
Named in the Australian Under 19 squad for the tri-series in Brisbane last month, Bray’s breakout performance came in Australia’s win over New Zealand, smashing 84 (from 76) in addition to collecting 4-20 from eight overs.
Bray is joined in Sixers colours by Australian Under 19 teammate, Lucy Finn. A fast-bowling all-rounder from St George-Sutherland, Finn rounds out the new additions for the two-week campaign.
NSW pathways product Eva Ragg additionally joins the squad as a local replacement for quick, Maitlan Brown, who is rehabbing from a minor calf strain.
The Sixers will kick off the T20 Spring Challenge on Friday October 11, facing the ACT Meteors at North Sydney Oval from 2.30pm.
Every match of the upcoming T20 Spring Challenge will be broadcast via Kayo and cricket.com.au.
Entry to all matches is free.
Sydney Sixers T20 Spring Challenge squad:
Caoimhe Bray, Maitlan Brown, Erin Burns, Mathilda Carmichael, Lauren Cheatle, Lucy Finn, Elsa Hunter, Lauren Kua, Isa Malgioglio, Frankie Nicklin, Kate Pelle, Kate Peterson, Eva Ragg (LRP), Courtney Sippel.
Captain: Mathilda Carmichael
Coach: Charlotte Edwards
Sydney Sixers T20 Spring Challenge fixture:
October 11: Sydney Sixers vs. ACT Meteors | North Sydney Oval (2.30pm)
October 12: Sydney Sixers vs. Brisbane Heat | North Sydney Oval (7.00pm)
October 15: Sydney Sixers vs. Melbourne Stars | Hurstville Oval (2.00pm)
October 17: Sydney Sixers vs. Sydney Thunder | Cricket Central (10.00am)