'Aussie' Garth extends stay with Stars

Ireland's women's player of the decade, Kim Garth, is now Australian, signing a three-year deal with the Melbourne Stars as a domestic player.

Garth joined the Stars ahead of WBBL|07 last summer as one of their international signings having previously represented the Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers but having obtained permanent residency in the past year, she can now be considered a local player.

The fast-bowling allrounder debuted for Ireland as a 14-year-old in 2010, going on to play 34 ODIs and 51 T20I for her birth country before relocating to Australia full-time in 2020 after several summers playing Premier cricket in Melbourne.

Her desire was to experience life as a professional cricketer – something which is not currently possible in Ireland – and she was awarded a contract with Victoria ahead of the 2020-21 summer, and was again included on the state's contract list for next summer when it was released last month.

Due to COVID-19 border restrictions Garth hadn't been able to get home to Ireland to see her family since Christmas 2019 until this off-season.

"It has been great to get back in the off-season but I'm looking forward to getting back and putting in a solid block of work before the start of the season and working with (new Stars coach) Jonathan (Batty)," the 26-year-old said.

"I'm loving my time in Melbourne and I can't wait for the next three seasons.

"I haven't had the chance to play in front of our members and fans at home yet, which is something I'm really looking forward to in WBBL|08."

Permanent residency also makes Garth eligible to represent Australia under International Cricket Council regulations, but she has previously told cricket.com.au it was not at the forefront of her mind.

"The ultimate reason I made the decision was because I wanted to play cricket for a living," she said in February last year.

"To be on a full-time contract and play WNCL and WBBL as a local and play cricket for a living so I didn’t have to have another job like I did back home.

"If there comes a time where I’ve had a couple of good seasons and I’ve qualified as a local, if an opportunity came (to play for Australia) that’d be awesome."

Garth enjoyed a breakout Weber WBBL season last summer, collecting 15 wickets, which placed her inside the tournament's top 10, while also scoring 164 runs at 27 with a strike rate of 106 and was recognised the Stars' Player of the Year.

The right-hander, who has 65 international wickets to go with her 1210 runs from 85 matches, has also taken 21 wickets at 24 since joining Victoria two seasons ago.

"Kim has worked extremely hard on her game over the last couple of seasons and her improvement with both bat and ball is a credit to that hard work," Stars general manager Blair Crouch said.

"We're looking forward to seeing Kim and the team play at home at the CitiPower Centre and around Victoria in WBBL|08, after not having played in Victoria since WBBL|05."

Melbourne Stars WBBL|08 squad so far: Nicole Faltum, Kim Garth, Meg Lanning (c), Annabel Sutherland