Belinda Waimakare Vakarewa (born 22 January 1998) is an Australian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er from

Griffith, New South Wales Griffith is a major regional city in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area that is located in the north-western part of the Riverina region of New South Wales, known commonly as the food bowl of Australia. It is also the seat of the City of Griffit ...

. She plays as a

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

for the

Sydney Thunder The Sydney Thunder are an Australian franchise professional cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League. Along with the Sydney Sixers, the Thunder are the successors of the New South Wal ...

in the

Women's Big Bash League The Women's Big Bash League (known as the WBBL and, for sponsorship reasons, the Weber WBBL) is the Australian women's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition. The WBBL replaced the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup, which ran from the 2007–08 ...

. Vakarewa has also made one international appearance for the national women's team.

Early life

Vakarewa attended Eagle Vale High School. She played local cricket for several clubs in western Sydney, including Campbelltown-Camden in

grade cricket Grade cricket, also known as Premier Cricket is the name of the senior inter-club or district cricket competitions in each of the Australian states and territories. The term may refer to: *Victorian Premier Cricket * NSW Premier Cricket * Queens ...

as well as Campbelltown City and Magpies Cricket Club at junior level. Her introduction to the sport occurred at the age of ten after participating in a "come and try" day with her brother while in primary school. Vakarewa is from "a very traditional Fijian family" and played her father's choice of sport,

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

, throughout her childhood.

Domestic career

Vakarewa joined the

ahead of its inaugural season and went on to play in the WBBL01 championship final, which the team won by three wickets. She was also added to

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

' squad during the 2015–16 WNCL season. In May 2019, Vakarewa signed with the

Tasmanian Tigers The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield and the ...

and

Hobart Hurricanes The Hobart Hurricanes are an Australian professional men's T20 franchise cricket team based in Tasmania, Australia. They compete in Australia's domestic T20 cricket competition known as the Big Bash League, which is a league where many in ...

. She enjoyed a breakout WBBL05 campaign, taking 20 wickets (ranked third in the league) at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 15.80. Her outstanding season was recognised with selection in the Team of the Tournament as well as earning the Hurricanes' Most Valuable Player award. Vakarewa re-signed with the Hurricanes in July 2020, turning down offers from several other teams.

International career

In May 2017, Vakarewa was named in the 15-player Australian squad for the

2017 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup was an international women's cricket tournament that took place in England from 24 June to 23 July 2017. It was the eleventh edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, and the third to be held in England (after ...

and made her

Women's One Day International Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

(WODI) debut during the tournament against Sri Lanka on 29 June. She toured India with the Australian team in March 2018 but spent the series stricken by food poisoning and did not play a match. In April 2019,

Cricket Australia Cricket Australia (CA), formerly known as the Australian Cricket Board (ACB), is the governing body for professional and amateur cricket in Australia. It was originally formed in 1905 as the 'Australian Board of Control for International Crick ...

awarded Vakarewa with a contract for the National Performance Squad ahead of the 2019–20 season. She toured the United Kingdom in June and July 2019 as a member of the Australia A squad that played a series of

limited overs Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

and red ball matches against the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and England Academy teams. Vakarewa was included in the Australia A squad that hosted a series of three ODIs and three T20Is against India A in December 2019. Despite a strong display of recent form, she missed out on selection for Australia's

2020 ICC T20 World Cup The 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Women's T20 World Cup tournament. It was held in Australia between 21 February and 8 March 2020. The final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women's Day. Hosts Aus ...

squad. National team selector Shawn Flegler claimed the decision "illustrates the depth of Australian cricket" and that she was one of several players who "could come into the side at any stage and play a role". Vakarewa was then selected to play for the Governor General's XI in an exhibition match against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Drummoyne Oval Drummoyne Oval is a multi-use sports ground in the Sydney inner-west suburb of Drummoyne, New South Wales. The ground has been used for international women's cricket matches, domestic men's cricket matches and first grade rugby league as well as ...

on 28 January 2020.

References

External links

Belinda Vakarewa
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Belinda Vakarewa
at

Cricket Tasmania Cricket Tasmania (formerly the ''Tasmanian Cricket Association'') is the administrative body for cricket in Tasmania, Australia, and they are based at Bellerive Oval. Cricket Tasmania's primary purpose is to promote and develop the game of cri ...

Belinda Vakarewa
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vakarewa, Belinda 1998 births Living people Australia women One Day International cricketers People from Griffith, New South Wales Cricketers from New South Wales Sportswomen from New South Wales New South Wales Breakers cricketers Sydney Thunder (WBBL) cricketers Australian people of Fijian descent Hobart Hurricanes (WBBL) cricketers Tasmanian Tigers (women's cricket) cricketers