Lizelle Lee's Australian citizenship allows her to sign as a local player, opening up a spot in the WBBL Draft for the Hobart Hurricanes
'Canes record-breaker signs as a local player
Lizelle Lee has signed a new two-year contract with the Hobart Hurricanes – but this time it will be as a local player.
The Hurricanes handed the former South African international player a two-year overseas pre-signing deal last summer, but Lee has had her Australian permanent residency approved since then, and has now signed a fresh deal as a local player.
That in turn frees up an overseas spot for the Hurricanes for WBBL|11 to use either as a pre-signing ahead of the Draft, or at the Draft itself.
The opener made history last season, becoming the first player to score back-to-back hundreds in the Weber WBBL.
"We are delighted to have Lizelle around in purple for the next two seasons, and her batting last season was instrumental in our WBBL Finals run," said Cricket Tasmania's General Manager of High Performance, Salliann Beams.
"Whilst we already had her signed as our Overseas Pre-Signing, having her now as a local player, gives us even further flexibility to bring more talent to our WBBL|11 squad.
"Her performances last season, especially her back-to-back hundreds, showed she was one of the form batters in women's T20 cricket."
WBBL|10 was a landmark season for Lee as the Hurricanes' leading run scorer. Her unbeaten 150 against the Scorchers was the highest ever score in the WBBL.
Lee followed that with 103 against the Strikers just three days later.