Youth, experience and very best in overseas talent: Women's Big Bash prepares for fascinating final

NICK FRIEND: Melbourne Stars go into the final as favourites but Sydney Thunder's youthful group make for an intriguing match-up

While Laura Kimmince was at the crease, it felt difficult to see any other outcome than a Brisbane Heat win and the chance of a third consecutive Women’s Big Bash crown.

But her dismissal sparked a collapse of quite seismic proportions – partially self-inflicted, but more so brought about by the intensity of a hugely intriguing Sydney Thunder side whose make-up is a nod to all that the competition stands for.

At the heart of their last-gasp revival was Hannah Darlington, an 18-year-old of indigenous heritage, whose 18 wickets make her the tournament’s third-most potent bowler, albeit with a superior average, economy and strike rate to those above her.

She is not the youngest member of her side; that tag belongs to Phoebe Litchfield, the much-vaunted 17-year-old batsman, while Rachel Trenaman is still 19 and wicketkeeper Tahlia Wilson just 21. When left-arm spinner Samantha Bates – whose action has more than a shade of Sophie Ecclestone about it – turns 25 the day after the final, she will be one of only six Thunder players to have reached that age.

Leaning towards the other end of the scale, Sammy-Jo Johnson took the final wicket to complete the semi-final heist. This is her first year with Thunder, having moved across from Heat after swapping states from Queensland to New South Wales. At 28, her name at the very top of the leading wicket-takers’ list is further evidence of the success of the Australian system.

Elsewhere in the world, there are not necessarily infrastructures in place in the women’s game for uncapped players of her age to continue performing like this. She has picked up 20 scalps thus far, while also – in brief flickers – providing quick, pinch-hitting runs.

^{Melbourne Stars are readying themselves for their first WBBL final}

And then, there is a high-profile core of international experience. Heather Knight, Shabnim Ismail and Tammy Beaumont have enjoyed campaigns with varying degrees of success: Beaumont, by her own admission, has been a significant way from her best, while Ismail has been frugal if not prolific.

In Knight, however, Thunder have possessed the world’s most-improved T20 batsman and arguably the player of the tournament. In 55 games for Hobart Hurricanes during her previous Women’s Big Bash existence, she ticked along without ever properly catching fire. In truth, the same could be said of her rise in the last 12 months in T20Is: she made one half century in her first 63 T20 appearances for England, before making three fifties and a hundred in the first quarter of 2020.

But her presence in the middle order alongside Rachael Haynes has given an otherwise youthful line-up a sense of reassurance.

That buffer, one senses, will be vitally important against a Melbourne Stars side stacked with big names, but also similarly including a delve into the future. The runaway group stage leaders were equally dismissive in their semi-final against Perth Scorchers, knocking off a 126-run target with 22 balls to spare. There was a semi-jitter when Meg Lanning lost her off-stump to a fine delivery from Heather Graham, but otherwise their display was the kind to be expected from the competition’s dominant force.

There had been some talk in the build-up to the semi-final of lost momentum: Stars fell to consecutive defeats in their final two round-robin matches. But, much in the same way that the pressure of a first Women’s Big Bash final is unlikely to phase them, there was no sense of fragility or nervousness in a comprehensive victory.

But then, perhaps that is hardly a surprise: between them, Lanning, Mignon du Preez, Elyse Villani, Nat Sciver and Katherine Brunt are the holders of 900 international caps. They make up five of Stars’ top six, separated only by Annabel Sutherland who, at 19 years of age, has all the hallmarks of a generational, all-round talent. She is not the sole teenager: Tess Flintoff is less than a month older than Litchfield, while wicketkeeper Nicole Faltum is 20.

Sammy-Jo Johnson has been a revelation for Sydney Thunder

Typically, Lanning has been in fine fettle with the bat; only Beth Mooney – Lanning’s replacement at Perth after she left for Melbourne – has managed more runs this season than the Australia skipper. It has been far from a lone battle, however; Villani, du Preez and Sciver also sit among the 20 highest run-scorers, while Sciver is only behind Johnson in the wickets column.

What does it all mean for Saturday? Stars will begin as favourites, having beaten Thunder easily earlier in the competition. Their batting line-up is more experienced, and their top order have provided a consistent weight of runs.

But finals do strange things to people: which of the several youngsters can best hold their nerve might go some way to determining the destination of the title, while the potential of a Thunder-backing atmosphere at the North Sydney Oval might well aid Haynes’ side.

Whichever way it goes, though, the final will be representative of the product that the Women’s Big Bash has become: a terrific combination of youth, experience and the very best in overseas talent.

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