‘She’s just got it’: why Aussie quick is a rare find
Murray Wenzel |
In an Australian women’s cricket team blessed with generational talents, Lucy Hamilton is bringing something new to the table.
The 20-year-old has rocketed into the frame this year, debuting in all three formats for her country in March, and is now set to play in next month’s T20 World Cup in England and Wales.
The left-arm quick is pushing 120km/h and confident she’ll get quicker, but says it will be her swing, seam and angle that make her effective in the UK.
In a team stacked with right-arm pace options, selectors opted for the Bundaberg talent ahead of fellow quick Darcie Brown.
“She’s just got it; it’s something you look for when you’re at kids’ clinics and that sort of thing,” veteran quick Megan Schutt told AAP.
“You spot a kid and you go, ‘They’ve got it’.
“Whatever ‘it’ is – a bit of a feeling, I guess – and she’s got it for sure.
“The work ethic and her head’s switched on … getting her in this environment, she’s going to climb pretty quick.
“The X-factor of being a leftie helps, but she has all the other attributes as well.”
Australia’s men’s team has been littered with left-arm weapons, but the same can’t be said for the women’s side.
Coach Shelley Nitschke, a former left-arm spinner who broke on to the international scene in the early 2000s, struggles to recall anyone like her.
It’s a phenomenon not lost on Hamilton, who says she still pinches herself to be playing alongside her heroes, but that she grew up without an obvious women’s idol.
“You’ve got a bit of an edge, a difference, and how can you use that?” she said.
“It’s exciting, knowing where my cricket can take me.
“You always want to be faster, but it’s about trying to cement your spot in the team by being accurate, swinging the ball and disrupting the batter.”
Australia will play five warm-up games, against South Africa and England, before beginning their World Cup campaign against the former in Manchester on June 13.
New Zealand are defending champions, with world No.1 Australia suffering losses in the most recent T20 and 50-over World Cups.
AAP