Jonathan Batty to continue as Melbourne Stars head coach for two years

Jonathan Batty has extended his role as the head coach of Melbourne Stars in Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) for another two years. Batty took over as the coach during the eighth season of the tournament last year.

"I'm thrilled to have signed as Melbourne Stars Head Coach for a further two seasons of the WBBL. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the Stars for WBBL 08, and can't wait to link up with the team again and build on the progress that we made last season,” Batty said.

"The young squad has huge amounts of talent and potential, which was evident for much of the previous campaign.

Batty also guided Delhi Capitals to the final of the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) recently. Meg Lanning, who gave WBBL08 a miss for personal reasons, will be back for Stars having worked with Batty at Delhi Capitals. Alice Capsey and Jemimah Rodrigues also were part of the Capitals side after representing Stars during season eight.

"I was also fortunate enough to work with Meg Lanning over the past few weeks at the WPL, and it's going to be great to see her back in a Stars jersey,” Batty added.

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49-year-old Batty has been a successful coach having lead the Oval Invincibles to back-to-back titles in The Hundred- Women’s edition.

Blair Crouch, general manager of Melbourne Stars, welcomed Batty’s decision to continue at the job and said continuity is going to be one of the key aspects for the success in the tournament for Stars.

"This group has seen a lot of change over the last couple of years so to have the bulk of the playing squad back for WBBL09 and Jonathan to continue his journey with them is fantastic,” Crouch said.

"Last year he had an immediate positive impact on the playing group, and many players took significant steps which I hope continue under the tutelage of JB and his coaching staff."