da bwin： Wong turned down a holiday in Italy to replace Shabnim Ismail at Sydney Thunder, while Smith adds international experience to a young Melbourne Stars attack
da dobrowin： ESPNcricinfo staff05-Oct-2021Sydney Thunder have signed 19-year-old England quick Issy Wong while Melbourne Stars have recruited left-arm orthodox spinner Linsey Smith for the upcoming WBBL.Wong was an extremely late addition to the Thunder squad after Shabnim Ismail was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury. The 19-year-old, who has been part of England’s training squad, was preparing to go on holiday to Italy when she got a call from Thunder coach Trevor Griffin.”It was a no-brainer,” Wong said. “When you get such an opportunity you can’t say ‘no’ to it.”This really is a great opportunity for me. I’m still very young, and to have this sort of exposure, and in such a respected league as the WBBL, is super-exciting.”I’m grateful to Sydney Thunder for putting their faith in me and giving me this opportunity.”Meanwhile, the Stars have added the experienced Smith to bolster their attack. Smith, 26, has played 9 T20Is for England and took 9 wickets in just 7 matches in the women’s Hundred for Northern Superchargers, at an excellent economy rate of 5.54.Stars coach Jarrad Loughman was pleased to add a senior bowler to his young side.”Linsey will add another level of versatility to our squad this season with her left-arm spin and batting in the middle order. Her experiences on the international stage will be beneficial to our squad, that is diverse in age and experience,” Loughman said.”She had a terrific English summer, highlighted by a strong tournament at The Hundred.”The Stars have also signed 20-year-old wicketkeeper Maddy Darke. She has previously played for Sydney Sixers in the WBBL but was starved of opportunity behind Alyssa Healy. Darke toured England with Australia A in 2019 and is currently part of Western Australia’s WNCL squad having moved from New South Wales in 2021.
