Melbourne: Teen leg-spinner and a member of Australia’s T20 World Cup winning squad, Georgia Wareham has bagged the Rebel Young Gun award in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) that concluded on Saturday.
The 19-year-old is the third Australian to win the award, after Sophie Molineux and Ashleigh Gardner. The award will give her access to a tailored mentor programme and a prize pack valued at over $6000, according to Cricket Australia.
Wareham, who played for the Melbourne Renegades in the fourth edition of the WBBL, had collected 11 wickets at 27.36. She was not among the most prolific wicket-takers, but her economy rate of 5.9 was matched by South Africa former captain Marizanne Kapp and Australia all-rounder Grace Harris.
The Victoria-born player formed a spin-trio with Molly Strano, who leads the WBBL wickets table with 18 scalps, and Molineux to help the Renegades to reach their maiden WBBL semi-final, where they lost to Sydney Sixers in the Super Over.
“She (Wareham) has been incredible, she just flies under the radar, old Wolf,” Molineux said of Wareham, who is nicknamed Wolfy.
“She just does her thing, turns up day in and day out. She has been a great performer for us and she has been one of the most reliable bowlers in the competition. That is a credit to her. She is only 19 and you would not even know when she gets the ball,” Molineux added.
Wareham was selected in Australia’s limited-overs teams last September considering her ability to bowl quick leg-spin combined with control and clever variations. She went on to pick up key wickets with consecutive balls and execute direct hit run-out in the T20 World Cup 2018 final in the Caribbean.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]