Former South Africa opener Lizelle Lee on Thursday has signed with Hobart Hurricanes in the upcoming season of the Women's Big Bash League. Hobart is now her third different WBBL club in four seasons - starting with Melbourne Stars for three seasons, before switching to Melbourne Renegades for the 2020-21 season.
She hadn't featured in last year's WBBL due to bio-bubble fatigue. In the 53 WBBL games she has played till date, Lizelle has amassed 1361 runs at a strike rate of 124.86, which includes a whopping 207 boundaries - 53 of them coming as sixes.
She also has two WBBL tons to her name - both unbeaten."I'm super excited to be joining the Hurricanes for WBBL|08. Some people might know that I was originally meant to join the Hurricanes last year, but due to a combination of my family circumstances, international commitments and bubble fatigue, for the sake our my own and my family's well being, I just couldn't make it work."
"My good friend and South African teammate, Mignon (du Preez), said she really enjoyed her time in the Hurricanes environment last season, so that, on top of the great conversations I've had with Sall (coach Salliann Briggs) and the team, I can't wait to get stuck in and see what it's like for myself this year," said Lizelle.
Before her sudden retirement from international cricket earlier in July, Lizelle represented South Africa in 82 T20Is and 100 ODIs, as well as two Test matches. At the T20I level, Lee has amassed 1896 runs at a strike rate of 110.61, being the leading run scorer for the Proteas.
Lizelle had said in her retirement letter that she will continue to play franchise T20 cricket. There were claims that Cricket South Africa (CSA) had tried to revoke her No Objection Certificate for playing in The Hundred, where she is supposed to turn out for Manchester Originals.
Lizelle joins Nicola Carey, Maisy Gibson, Heather Graham, Ruth Johnston, Emma Manix-Geeves, Hayley Silver-Holmes, Amy Smith, Naomi Stalenberg, Molly Strano, Rachel Trenaman and Elyse Villani as players currently contracted for WBBL season 08.