Aussie pair to make Super League debuts

Australia opener Nicole Bolton and allrounder Delissa Kimmince will both appear in England’s women’s Super League for the first time after signing on for the upcoming season.

Kimmince will join her Australia, Queensland and Brisbane Heat teammate Beth Mooney at the Yorkshire Diamonds, with Mooney returning to the club she played for in the domestic 20-over competition’s inaugural season in 2016.

Bolton will appear for Lancashire Thunder, where she’ll play under new coach and former Australia vice-captain Alex Blackwell, who has taken on her first coaching assignment since announcing her international retirement earlier this year.

The Western Australian is a mainstay of Australia’s ODI XI but has played just two T20Is for her country.

But after a successful 2017-18 campaign for the Perth Scorchers, where she finished third on the overall run-scoring charts with 482 runs at 32.13, Bolton hopes to use the experience in the United Kingdom to build momentum heading into the Australian summer.

"Playing against some of the best players in the world, it’s a great opportunity to go over there without any pressure and express myself," Bolton told cricket.com.au. "The more cricket you get to play the better you get, so hopefully that will put me in good stead for a big summer."

Bolton revealed she’d been working on a few new shots in the nets in preparation for her Lancashire stint, but said fans would have to wait and see the results.

“I’ve been having a little bit of fun in the nets and developing a few new shots,” she said.

“I won’t give too much away but fingers crossed I’ll be able to whip them out in the UK and then bring them back across to the Aussie summer.”

The 29-year-old, one of three internationals at the Thunder alongside New Zealand’s Amy Satterthwaite and India’s Harmanpreet Kaur, is also looking forward to working with Blackwell.

“That’s really exciting,” she said. “it’s nice to have a familiar face and she is such a breath of fresh air so I can’t wait to work with her.”

Kimmince’s opportunity with Yorkshire continues what’s been a successful year for the 29-year-old, who returned to Australia’s contracted player list in April and seems set to play a major role in the Southern Stars’ plans for the upcoming World T20 in the Caribbean.

Mooney, meanwhile, said she was looking forward to returning to the Super League after pulling out of last year’s tournament due to a shoulder concern.

“The Super League has come at a good time, it’s the middle of pre-season which gets to be a bit of a grind at this time of year,” Mooney told cricket.com.au.

“I’m looking forward to getting over there and joining up with DK (Kimmince) and hopefully scoring some runs and helping Yorkshire take out the title.”