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A number of promising players from Ireland could be on their way to the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League, after Cricket Australia announced details of the WBBL Associate Rookie Program in conjunction with the ICC.
A total of eight players from the Associate game will be given an opportunity to link up with a team in the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League, which gets underway in Australia in December.

The WBBL Associate Rookie Program will provide talented players from leading ICC Associate & Affiliate Member nations an opportunity to be involved in the WBBL. Two-week placements will be offered to the most promising cricketers from Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, China, Thailand and Papua New Guinea identified from the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier tournament, which is being held in Thailand from 28 November – 5 December.

During their placement, the selected players will be based full-time with their WBBL club, attending all of their matches. While the players will not be a playing member of the squad, they will become eligible for selection should a member of the squad pick up an injury.

The program is based on the highly successful KFC T20 Big Bash League (BBL) Community Rookie Program concept, which has greatly accelerated the development of three selected rookies from Papua New Guinea in the past two years and provided flow-on benefits to their national team. The concept also helps to bring greater diversity to the clubs and league and provides opportunities to market the clubs to new fans.

Commenting on the initiative, Ireland Head Coach & Performance Pathway Manager, Aaron Hamilton, commented: “It’s a great opportunity for a couple of our players to experience different conditions and see how some of the best players in the world go about their business.

Initiatives such as this will undoubtedly help expand the global game, with more and more associate sides vying to compete in international tournaments.

Speaking about the program ICC Head of Global Development Tim Anderson said: “The development of women’s cricket is fundamental to our sport’s global growth.

“The ICC is therefore delighted to be partnering with Cricket Australia on this initiative that will not only provide a great opportunity for the best female players from our Associate and Affiliate Members, but also demonstrates the more integrated approach the international community is taking to developing cricket around the world.”

The Ireland Head Coach and Performance Pathway Manager, along with the national selectors and Performance Director will select 2-3 players for Ireland to be considered for selection ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 Qualifier, where Cricket Australia’s Women’s Youth Coach Cathryn Fitzpatrick will select the final players for placement.

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