For the Weber WBBL season, the Hobart Hurricanes have added veteran New Zealand player Suzie Bates to strengthen their batting lineup. In place of Danni Wyatt-Hodge, who will miss the final stages of WBBL|10 Due to international commitments, the 37-year-old veteran has been signed.
After the Hurricanes insisted on three retention picks this season, Wyatt-Hodge was selected fourth in the WBBL Draft. He will be available for the first seven games, with Bates taking over for the remaining three games and any championship series.
Salliann Beams, the general manager of high performance for the Hurricanes, describes Bates as the “perfect” replacement player because of her abundance of experience. Bates played a part in New Zealand’s crushing loss to Australia in last night’s T20 World Cup match in Sharjah.
“Bringing Suzie into our WBBL squad just made sense as soon as we saw she was not selected in the draft we thought she would be the perfect replacement for Danni once we knew her availability,” Beams stated.
Although Lizelle Lee will be a fixture at the top of the order, the Hurricanes may lose South Africa all-rounder Chloe Tryon due to international obligations during the tournament’s final stages.
In 167 T20 internationals, Bates has averaged 29.48 and struck out 108.78 after making 20 against the Australians in Sharjah last night. She has participated in eight of the nine WBBL seasons to date, appearing in precisely 100 games during her time with the Adelaide Strikers, Perth Scorchers, and Sydney Sixers, where she has spent the last two summers.
On their WBBL|10 roster, the Hurricanes still need to fill one local spot. An announcement is anticipated later this week, and Tryon’s successor has yet to be decided.
Nicola Carey, Heather Graham, Ruth Johnston, Lizelle Lee (South Africa), Hayley Silver-Holmes, Tabatha Saville, Amy Smith, Lauren Smith, Molly Strano, Rachel Trenaman, Chloe Tryon (South Africa), Elyse Villani, Callie Wilson, Danni Wyatt-Hodge (England) are the current members of the Hobart Hurricanes WBBL|10 squad.