Carly Leeson and Georgia Redmayne make brilliant WBBL start

The WBBL got off to a wet and wild start last weekend, with a number of matches abandoned without a ball bowled. One of those matches would have pitted our two UNSW stars - 2019 Female Athlete of the Year Georgia Redmayne and Ben Lexcen scholar Carly Leeson - against each other. The two teams won't meet again until the final round of competition on 22 November.

Fortunately both players did make it out on the field for their other game of the weekend. Redmayne's Brisbane Heat took on the highly fancied Perth Scorchers in the first game of the season at North Sydney Oval. Much had been made of the Scorchers' excellent recruitment in the off-season, snaring Australian star Beth Mooney and big hitting New Zealander Sophie Devine. Redmayne took advantage of the vacant wicket keeping position Mooney left at the Heat and moved over from the Scorchers, allowing her to stay closer to home and her work as a doctor during the pre-season.

A strong bowling performance from the Heat restricted the Scorchers to just 132 and Redmayne was sent in to open the batting with Maddy Green. Though Green fell early, Redmayne held her composure and batted through a solid cameo from Jess Jonassen and then played a brilliant supporting role to Grace Harris' big hitting, chipping in a four and two sixes of her own to carry her bat through the innings and guide her team to victory with an emphatic 37 runs from 35 balls. 

Leeson's Melbourne Renegades began their campaign with a local derby, taking on the Melbourne Stars at Hurstville Oval on Sunday morning. Unfortunately the match wasn't able to be completed, as rain set in late in the Stars' innings and didn't lift enough for the teams to head back out on to the field. However, Leeson was the pick of the bowlers from the 17 overs that were completed, taking 2/28 and bagging the huge wickets of the dangerous Mignon du Preez for 32, caught on the boundary and Natalie Sciver clean bowled for a duck.

Both players will be back in action this weekend, with Leeson's Renegades taking on the Scorchers at Drummoyne Oval at 2:30pm on Saturday, while Redmayne's Heat will be part of the big crowd-friendly triple header at the Sydney Showground at 3:40pm. While on Sunday, both will play against the local teams - with plenty of familiar faces for the two NSW raised players. The Heat play the Sydney Thunder at 10:20am, followed by the Renegades up against the Sydney Sixers at 1:45pm.

And if you just can't get enough of the WBBL action, make sure you tune into the weekly panel show The Blast on Fox Cricket at 4:45pm on Sunday, featuring former Australian stars Mel Jones and UNSW alumna Alex Blackwell.