Darlington adds new string to bow with first coaching role

Hannah Darlington is turning a temporary setback into a chance to grow her cricketing resume, as she takes on her first coaching role.

The NSW and Sydney Thunder allrounder is in Papua New Guinea this week with the Australian Women's Indigenous team, where she is assisting head coach Alex Stewart in the inaugural PacificAus Sports Cricket Invitational.

The 23-year-old Kamilaroi woman has previously captained the Indigenous team on a tour to Vanuatu in 2023, but her hopes of playing in this tournament, which is being held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from June 15-21 and will also involve teams from PNG, Vanuatu and Samoa, were dashed by some preseason niggles. 

"I was hopeful I'd be able to play, but with a few niggles around the body from last season and trying to make sure we prep correctly and not rush anything (I couldn't), but CA was keen to keep me involved and thankfully gave me the opportunity to accept the assistant coach role … I'm pretty happy with my first coaching role being this one," Darlington told cricket.com.au ahead of her departure for PNG.

"I've done my level one (couching course), like most people do in when they've got some spare time around training, but training and coaching have never really crossed over yet.

"So it's a new experience and I'll probably take on more of a mentor-slash-guide role instead of the exact coaching and technical stuff.

"It's a pretty cool opportunity to have at the start of the season as well, to test some new skills and see how I go about coaching.

"There's some pretty experienced players in that line-up, so I'll probably be more taking a bit of a focus to the younger girls and I'm excited to see what we could do."

Australian Indigenous Women's Squad:  Christina Coulson (c)(Kaurareg), Ella Hayward (vc)(Jawoyn), Mikayla Hinkley (vc)(Kunja), Grace Abdy(Waanyi & Ganggalida), Callee Black (Wiradjuri), Dharmini Chauhan (Wiradjuri), Veronica Keen (Badimaya), Anika Learoyd (Gumbaynggirr), Emma Manix-Geeves (Palawa), Tahlia Meier (Wamba Wamba), Clodagh Ryall (Kaurareg), Elsie Simpson (Kurnai), Maddison Spence (Wiradjuri), Charlotte Toohey. Head Coach: Alex Stewart (Palawa), Assistant Coach: Hannah Darlington (Kamilaroi)

Darlington said she was looking forward to working with close friend and NSW/Thunder teammate Anika Learoyd, who has been named in the Aboriginal team alongside fellow domestic players Ella Hayward, Mikayla Hinkley and Emma Manix-Geeves.

Christina Coulson is captaining the side, with Hayward and Hinkley named vice-captains.

"I've joked with Anika a couple of times that I can't wait to drop her," Darlington laughed.

"But no, I think having one of my best mates and some people that I've played with since I was a kid as well – I've played a lot of cricket against Ella, I've played with Emma Manix-Geeves on tours like this before ... those players are exciting to be able to work with again.

"And then the girls like Clodagh Ryall and Christina Coulson, who I've played against for years in Alice Springs and around the country, it's a nice squad to still feel like I'm a part of and be there with."

The T20 tournament is supported through the Australian Government's PacificAus Sports program, which creates opportunities for Pacific athletes, coaches, officials and administrators to access high performance training and elite competition.  

"I think it's huge," Darlington said of the impact the tournament would have for women's cricket in the region.

"Having some conversations with the girls that we met close to two years now ago in Vanuatu, they're really excited to be able to reconnect and see how everyone's going and play against each other again.

"The aspect of bringing it to Papua New Guinea in terms of their national side is going to be really exciting as well, and to get a glimpse at Samoa and just be able to give that helping hand from a professional landscape, and be able to help where we can is pretty exciting, and then for our side, to be able to play against international opposition is something you don't get the chance to do every day."

Following the tournament, Darlington will continue building towards the 2025-26 season, as she looks to replicate last summer's personal success – and help NSW and the Thunder continue their upward trajectories.

After several interrupted seasons, Darlington put together a complete 2024-25 for New South Wales and Sydney Thunder that resulted in a call-up to Australia A, her first representative opportunity since she last played a senior game for Australia in 2021.

That was a massive moment and something I was really proud of, to put a season together and get selected again," she said.

"For me, it was just being able to train consistently.

"For the last couple of years, it's always been a lot of fitness tests or (injuries) hindering ... this was probably the first year I'd had a glimpse at training full-time and seeing how my body reacted to that, and probably preseason last year, putting in a hell of a lot of work to make sure my body was in the right shape to perform.

"It meant that my fielding came on in leaps and bounds, I was able to bowl consistently and a few glimpses with the bat as well.

"I'll just continue to aim towards (being) that all-round player and that takes a lot of hours."