No breaks for relentless WBBL champion with Olympics dream

On December 13, Lizelle Lee was living out a dream as the Hobart Hurricanes lifted their maiden WBBL title in front of home fans at the Bellerive Oval.

Two days later she was laying the building blocks for realising another, officiating at the Female Under-19 National Championships on New South Wales' Central Coast.

Lee had declared her ambition to be a top international umpire in a media chat during the Hurricanes' WBBL|11 championship run.

While the former South Africa wicketkeeper-batter's chances of participating in the Olympics as an athlete are near improbable, having permanently moved to Australia on retiring from international cricket in 2022, she is dreaming of an appearance at the foremost global sporting meet as an umpire in the re-introduced cricket competition.

"That's something that I really want to do – and who doesn't want to go to the Olympics, it doesn't matter what you're going for," Lee said in November.

"So I would love to do that as well … 2032, there's a Brisbane one, so fingers crossed maybe if I'm done playing by then, hopefully I can do that."

The 33-year-old has been setting the foundation of her post-playing career honing her craft in grassroots cricket in Australia.

In the ten days between her T20 Spring Challenge title win with the Hurricanes in Sydney and playing in the side's opening game of the WBBL season, Lee made time to officiate in Tasmanian Premier cricket.

She was one half of the pair that made history by being the first female umpire duo to stand in a men's game of the competition.

Returning to the "job" two days after smashing a player-of-the-match-winning knock of 77no off 44 in the WBBL Final only cemented her commitment to reaching the top in the profession further.

Make no mistake, Lee is in no hurry to call time on her playing career.

"I don't want to take away my cricket, because I still feel like there's a lot in me," she had clarified.

It won't be wrong to say the powerful top-order bat is enjoying one of the best extended periods of her career and has played a big part in the Hurricanes and the Tasmanian Tigers' recent success.

After becoming the first player to hit back-to-back centuries in the WBBL last year, Lee came within touching distance of breaking the record for the highest individual score in the WNCL when she smashed 187 against Victoria earlier this season, falling just three short of Meg Lanning's mark.

Her continued contributions and the Australian permanent resident status acquired last year – which allows her to play as a local player – makes her a valued member for Tasmania's state side and the Hurricanes.

While an international retirement at the age of 30 was an unusual move, it opened doors for more playing opportunities for Lee half-way across the world.

When the time does come to hang up the spikes, she would have charted her path to another role on the cricketing pitch in her true unorthodox fashion.

But while uncommon, Lee's path to an umpiring career as an active professional player is not unique.

Another international wicketkeeper, Ireland's Mary Waldron, made the move to Australia to pursue cricket officiating in the last decade.

But while Waldron made her way up from grade cricket to list-A, WBBL and the ICC's World Cup Regional Qualifiers as an umpire, she kept representing her country as a player until 2023, when she retired at the age of 39 as Ireland's most-capped women's cricketer.