Photo Credit: Hobart Hurricanes
The Hobart Hurricanes have announced that Rachel Priest will captain the side throughout Weber WBBL|07.For Priest – who was awarded the Hurricanes Player of the Tournament Award for WBBL|06 – WBBL|07 will be her second season in purple, with the former New Zealand international qualifying as an international singing on the Hurricanes list. However, having also been a part of the Tigers squad for the past two seasons, Priest is already well-known around the Tasmanian cricket set-up.
On the field, Priest was a shining light for the Hurricanes in WBBL|06, notching up 354 runs for the tournament – the most of any Hurricane – and taking up residence behind the stumps for all 13 games played.
Hobart Hurricanes WBBL head coach, Salliann Beams, said that Priest was a natural choice to fill the leadership position.
“We have a lot of fantastic leaders in our group, but when it came to naming the captain, it was a bit of a no-brainer,” Beams said.
“Not only is she a fantastic player, but she’s got a lot of experience playing cricket all over the world in all different conditions, and she’s also got a really great cricket brain.
“This will be Priesty’s second season with us, which on one hand isn’t a lot of time, however, as she’s also a part of our Tigers group, she’s already spent a lot of time with the people involved with our program, and they all agree that she is the perfect person for this role.”
Priest added that she was honoured to be offered the position.
“It’s definitely a huge honour to be asked to be captain, of any team, but from my time in Tasmania so far, I know what a proud cricketing state this, and what having this role really means.
“Even though I’ve been around cricket for a while now, I’ve continued to learn and evolve both as a player and as a person during my time here in Tassie,” Priest continued. “It’s a great group of girls we have this year – on paper, from a cricket perspective, but also off the field. I’m really excited to lead this group and see what we can achieve.”
The Hurricanes Weber WBBL|07 campaign will get underway next Saturday, October 16, when they take on the Melbourne Renegades at Blundstone Arena.
