Hannah Darlington extends Sydney Thunder stay

One of the teenagers, who played in the fifth season of the Women’s Big Bash League, Hannah Darlington, signed a new two-year deal with Sydney Thunder, the club announced on Thursday (February 13).

Darlington finished as Thunder’s leading wicket-taker with 16 wickets and also scored 81 runs at a strike rate of 105.19. She also appeared for her Higher School Certificate English exam on the morning of her debut.

“It was an easy decision to stay on for another two years,” said Darlington, who was named WBBL Young Gun and made her Women’s National Cricket League debut.

“I’ve been at the club for three years now and I’ve loved it. Trevor did what I thought was an amazing job to allow the younger players in the squad the chance to showcase their skills. There was never any pressure on us, we just had to go out and express ourselves. We had six teenagers in our squad, and it was exciting to see we all went out and performed when given an opportunity.”

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Darlington, who also played for Otago Sparks in the Super Smash 2019-20, also said that it was an easy decision to make.

“I’ve been at the club for three years now and I’ve loved it,” she said. “ Trevor did what I thought was an amazing job to allow the younger players in the squad the chance to showcase their skills. There was never any pressure on us, we just had to go out and express ourselves. We had six teenagers in our squad, and it was exciting to see we all went out and performed when given an opportunity.”

“Everything Sydney Thunder does off the field is really special for all of the players,” she said about being the first captain of Thunder’s Indigenous Women’s XI. “They provide something else other than cricket - and I think that is very important.”

“I’ve been lucky throughout my short career to never have felt nervous. If something’s happened I’ve just focused on the task ahead. I didn’t need to worry about what the outcomes could be, but just to complete the task,” she added.