Aussie speedster returns home with Renegades deal

Injury-plagued Aussie speedster Tayla Vlaeminck will return to her first WBBL club the Melbourne Renegades after three seasons in Hobart.

Vlaeminck, who took 13 wickets with an impressive economy rate of 6.06 in 14 matches for the Hurricanes last summer, was out of contract at the end of WBBL|07 and has since inked a two-year deal to seal a return to her home state.

The 23-year-old will miss the Weber WBBL season later this year as she continues to recover from a navicular stress fracture in her right footthat ruled her out of Australia's winning Ashes and ODI World Cup campaigns.

The right-armer reported pain in the opening T20I of the series against England in Adelaide in January, with Australian physiotherapist Kate Beerworth recently revealing no return date had been set with Vlaeminck to be unavailable for the T20 tri-series against Ireland and Pakistan, the Commonwealth Games and WBBL.

The Bendigo-born fast bowler, who regularly exceeds 120kph, has been working with the Australian Ballet as part of her rehab for the past four months and said they were starting to make good progress.

"It came about just through our Australian physio who had some contacts with the physio there and she's well known as a foot and ankle (specialist)," Vlaeminck said after signing with the Renegades.

"She's been awesome, and just being able to get a fresh perspective … the ballet is something completely different.

"Obviously, I've had a lot of injuries in the past and done a lot of training out of the Junction and as good as it is here, I can kind of just feel like the same kind of thing over and over again.

"So it's been really nice to train with some new people and people that don't really know much about cricket and I don't know anything about ballet, so it's been cool just to get into a different high performance environment and see how that works."

Vlaeminck also missed all of WBBL|06 with the Hurricanes due to a recurrence of a previous right foot stress fracture that ruled her out of Australia's 2020 home T20 World Cup triumph.

She also missed the end of WBBL|04 with the Renegades in January 2019 with a partial ACL strain in her left knee.

She said the opportunity to be home close to family and friends enticed her back to the Renegades.

"I've grown up with 'Soph' (Sophie Molineux) and 'Wolf' (Georgia Wareham) and a lot of the girls; I obviously played at the Renegades with a lot of the girls beforehand as well, so I know everyone really well and hopefully it's going to be an easy transition back into the team," Vlaeminck said.

"I obviously won't be playing this season but hopefully I'll be able to contribute off the field, still get around the girls and help out some of the bowlers and look to play the following year, which is exciting."

Vlaeminck has played 33 WBBL matches across her career to date, including six with the Renegades from WBBL|02 to WBBL|04, collecting 27 wickets.

She has also represented Australia 24 times across all three formats, claiming 20 international scalps.

With Wareham, 23, also expected to miss all of WBBL|08 after an ACL reconstruction in February and Molineux, 24, also recovering from a right foot stress fracture, the Renegades have signalled they are building for the future.

"Our list strategy is not only about building our squad for WBBL|08, but to set us up to challenge over a sustained period," general manager James Rosengarten said.

"To have the likes of Tayla, Sophie (Molineux) and Georgia (Wareham) locked in beyond this season is fantastic and we look forward to adding more talent ahead of the season.

"We're excited to be bringing Tayla home to the Renegades and see her being an important part of our future.

"Tayla won't play this year as she continues her recovery, but we're committed to supporting her through this period.

"She already has strong relationships at the club and we know she will be a great asset to our group off the field too."

Melbourne Renegades WBBL|08 squad so far: Ellie Falconer, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Courtney Webb, Tayla Vlaeminck