Photo Credit: Brisbane Heat
The WBBL Brisbane Heat will pack a punch in 2022-23 with Grace and Laura Harris signing new deals for the coming Weber Women’s Big Bash League.
The Harris sisters are the latest Heat stars to commit to Brisbane’s squad for the coming WBBL|08 season that gets underway in October.
The duo announced their intentions to stay true in teal when they spoke recently with Abbie from HerWay Magazine (https://her-way-magazine.square.site/) which will carry an exclusive interview with them in a future edition.
Allrounder Grace is currently in the United Kingdom with the Australian Women’s team that is preparing for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham at the end of the month.
It will be the first time the Australian women’s team has competed at the Commonwealth Games and their first major series since winning the T20 World Cup in New Zealand earlier in the year.
Grace, who was a member of the World Cup squad without playing a game, made her comeback to the national side in the Tri-Series against Ireland and Pakistan on the weekend, ending a five-year hiatus from the Australian team.
Grace, the first woman to score a century in the WBBL, has played 76 matches for the Heat, scoring 1653 runs to be the club’s third highest runs-scorer of all time as well as taking 57 wickets to be the second leading wicket-taker.
With 91 career games for Brisbane, Laura is set to play her 100th WBBL game during the season, which would see her join captain Jess Jonassen as 100-gamers for the club.
Laura’s career WBBL strike rate of 144.08 is also the highest in the club.
The Heat has announced 11 signings to date, with four spots left to fill.
Heat coach Ashley Noffke said the addition of the siblings to the squad delivered numerous benefits.
“Their on-field power with the bat gives us the ability to shift the momentum of an innings in a few balls, but equally, they both can work in a specific role within the batting group and give us good structure,’’ he said.
“We get different things from them in the field and that is very important. Grace’s bowling is always a threat and ‘Larris’ brings great calm to situations.”
“Off the field, they bring experience, and a good sense of fun which helps immensely across a tournament.”
Noffke said he was pleased that Grace had been able to extend her stint in the national squad.
“Gracie has worked very hard over the past few seasons to make herself a more complete player and being part of the Aussie squad is a good reward for her dedication. We’ll keep challenging her and look forward to seeing what comes from that,’’ he said.
Tickets to all WBBL Heat matches will be available via pre-sale on August 16 and available to the public from August 18 through Ticketek.com.au.
