WBBL lauds 'the Glenn Maxwell of female cricket'

With an unorthodox array of shots and an ever-growing reputation as a finisher, Laura Kimmince has emerged as one of the surprise packets of this Rebel WBBL season.

So much so, Brisbane Heat coach Ashley Noffke has compared the powerful 30-year-old to Australia men's allrounder Glenn Maxwell for the sheer X-factor she has brought to the two-time champions' batting line-up in WBBL|06.

Kimmince again produced the goods on Saturday with an unbeaten 19 from just five deliveries to steer the Heat to a tense three-wicket win over minor premiers Melbourne Stars, their sixth consecutive victory.

There was the sheer power, displayed in an enormous six over the deep backward square boundary, and then there was the crafty, in the form of a perfectly placed reverse sweep off the bowling of speedster Annabel Sutherland for four.

"She's certainly an X-factor," Heat coach Noffke told cricket.com.au.

"We've got a lot of players who play the same way and 'Larris' (Kimmince) plays a completely different style.

"In my eyes, she's the Glenn Maxwell of female cricket; she can hit it out of the ground, she reverse sweeps, she reverse laps and she is really, really hard to contain when she gets going.

"We've seen that a couple of times in the tournament."

Kimmince holds the unique claim to fame of having hit the winning runs in both of Brisbane's triumphant WBBL finals in the past two summers, but this season has evolved into a true finisher.

In her past four innings, she has smacked 123 runs at strike rate of 251.

That run also includes scores of 41 from 17 deliveries against the Adelaide Strikers, 23 off 10 against the Sixers and 40 off 17 against the Perth Scorchers.

"It's been an interesting journey (and) it's at a point where she is starting to believe in her own skill," Noffke added.

"It takes a lot to believe in yourself as a player.

"She's a mature player and a professional, being an emergency nurse, so she's always looked at cricket as a bit of fun. But this last year and a half, she's really focused on being the best she can be on the cricket field.

"There's some learnings that go with that; you always have ups and downs with any development you do, but she's relaxed a lot.

"She wants it really badly, she wants to do something well for the team all the time, but she's probably relaxing into the fact she does things a bit differently and she can go out and express herself."

With six consecutive wins, the Heat now sit second on the table and have one foot in the semi-finals with one game remaining against the Melbourne Renegades.

They have also shown up the critics who questioned how they would fare without Beth Mooney, who was their leading run scorer across both successful campaigns but left during the off-season for the Perth Scorchers.

The answer has been through consistent, valuable contributions from a variety of players; Georgia Redmayne has enjoyed her best ever WBBL season with 322 runs at 35 to date, while 17-year-old Georgia Voll has quickly found her footing in the world's best women’s T20 league, as displayed in her composed 34 off 28 against the Stars.

Captain Jess Jonassen also produced her best innings of the tournament on Saturday, hitting a quickfire 35 off 19.

"One of our biggest focus points throughout the pre-season and heading into the comp was getting everyone to feel like they had a job and knowing what it is," Kimmince said following Saturday's win over the Stars.

"You're not just relying on just one or two people all the time to score your runs."