‘Fastest bowler in Australia’ gets payday

Teenage fast bowler Darcie Brown has continued her rapid escalation to the elite Australian cricket ranks and earned a six-figure payday by securing her first national contract.

The 18-year-old from South Australia was the only new face on the 15-player list that included all of the T20 World Cup-winning side and the bulk of players used in the world record 24-straight one-day wins by captain Meg Lanning’s team.

Brown made her international debut during the recent T20 tour of New Zealand and replaces recently retired Delissa Kimmince on the central contract list.

Victory in the bitterly fought pay war in 2017 brought with it an exponential increase in pay for the women’s team, with more than $55m to be paid out over the course of the deal and the base pay for contracted female players set to rise to more than $87,000 in 2022.

With match payments and tour fees factored in, teenager Brown can settle into life after school as a professional cricketer.

National selector and female high performance manager Shawn Flegler said Brown had shown herself to be the fastest bowler in Australia and could be a huge weapon ahead of next year’s one-day World Cup.

“Darcie is an incredibly exciting fast-bowling talent, as we saw on the recent T20I and ODI tour of New Zealand, and she has consistently been the fastest bowler in the country as shown by our testing around the states,” he said.

“She’s had tremendous raw pace throughout the junior ranks, and we think she has the potential to form an excellent new ball partnership with Tayla Vlaeminck for many years to come.

“Tayla, too, was impressive in New Zealand in her return from injury with her pace, bounce and movement, while Darcie … handled the step up to international cricket with great poise and professionalism.”

SQUAD ?

15 players have been offered new national team contracts, including newcomer Darcie Brown! pic.twitter.com/yTjoGaDWpi

The Australians have continued to dominate the game and are the No 1-ranked T20I and ODI women’s teams in the world.

Flegler said the squad was indicative of the huge amounts of talent in Australian cricket.

“From a batting perspective, we are really happy with the performance and depth of this group,” he said.

“Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes are all at or near the top of their game, which augers well as we enter a World Cup year. It’s a very tough group to crack.

“It’s a similar story with our all-rounders. Ellyse Perry is ranked the No 1 ODI player in the world, and she has done a terrific job working her way back after a significant injury.

“We expect her to be back to full fitness next season and contributing with both bat and ball.”

The Aussies will host India and England this summer before heading to New Zealand for the World Cup in March, 2022.

Cricket Australia contracted women’s players
Darcie Brown (South Australia)
Nicola Carey (Tasmania)
Ashleigh Gardner (New South Wales)
Rachael Haynes (New South Wales)
Alyssa Healy (New South Wales)
Jess Jonassen (Queensland)
Meg Lanning (Victoria)
Tahlia McGrath (South Australia)
Sophie Molineux (Victoria)
Beth Mooney (Queensland)
Ellyse Perry (Victoria)
Megan Schutt (South Australia)
Annabel Sutherland (Victoria)
Tayla Vlaeminck (Victoria)
Georgia Wareham (Victoria)

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