England duo Knight and Beaumont join Sydney Thunder for WBBL

The pair will bring experience to a young Sydney Thunder side

• Australia women claim record-equalling 21st successive ODI win in New Zealand thrashing

• View the latest women's cricket news

England's World Cup-winning captain Heather Knight and team mate Tammy Beaumont have signed for Sydney Thunder ahead of the upcoming WBBL.

Both have previous WBBL experience - with Knight playing 55 games for Hobart Hurricanes whilst Beaumont has had stints with Melbourne Renegades and Adelaide Strikers.

Speaking of the announcement, Knight explained: “From afar, I could see that Thunder has quite a young squad,” she said. “But, there’s some really talented youngsters which is really exciting.

“I’m really looking forward to supporting Rachael Haynes - who I respect massively as a player and captain – and also helping those young girls win some games and get into finals.

“Trevor (Griffin) being coach was a big factor in my decision. He’s a brilliant people person and really knows how to get the best out of me. I'm massively excited to work with him again," she added.

_{During her time at Hobart, Knight amassed 1,353 runs and took 39 wickets.}

Beaumont has scored almost 3,800 runs for England in T20 cricket to-date and understands what Griffin will expect from her.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity for me," Beaumont said. "Trevor's hoping I can open the batting and be aggressive at the top of the order.

“Last year we saw how many talented young players Thunder has coming through, so it’ll be great to come into the set up and hopefully add a bit of experience.”

Thunder head coach, Griffin, won two KSL titles with Knight and is certain that the young members of the squad will learn a lot from the England duo.

“With Alex Blackwell and Rene Farrell retiring, one of the things that stood out was the need for some support for Rachael Haynes, and some more senior experience to help our younger players,” said Griffin.

“Heather is a true leader. It doesn’t matter what level of cricket she’s playing, the way she prepares is always exactly the same – and that will be great for our younger players to see how the best players in the world operate.

“Tammy is an aggressive player who wants to score runs and wants to dominate; that’s the way we want to play our cricket," he added.

“They’re both great at connecting with people and sharing their ideas, so I have no doubt that our entire squad will benefit from having Heather and Tammy around.”

For unrivalled coverage of the county season, subscribe to The Cricketer and receive 3 issues for £5