Hannah Joy Darlington (born 25 January 2002) 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 striki ...

er who made her debut for the national women's team in September 2021. A right-arm medium-pace bowler, Darlington is the current captain of 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 Wale ...

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 ...

(WBBL) and vice-captain of the

New South Wales Breakers The New South Wales Women cricket team, also known as the New South Wales Breakers, is the women's representative cricket team for the Australian State of New South Wales. They play most of their home games at North Sydney Oval and they also us ...

in the

Women's National Cricket League The Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) is the national domestic 50-over competition for women's cricket in Australia. Featuring seven teams—one from every state, plus the Australian Capital Territory—each season's winner is awarded the ...

(WNCL). In 2021, she won the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year award.

Early life and education

Hailing from Erskine Park in Western Sydney, Darlington has indigenous heritage and identifies as a member of the

Kamilaroi The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

people. While in primary school, she accidentally hit a teacher in the head with a ball and was given a choice of attending detention or joining the cricket team, prompting her formal introduction to the sport. She completed her HSC at

Westfields Sports High School , motto_translation = Courage and Valour , established = , location = 406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , type = Government-funded co-educational comprehensive a ...

Domestic career

Women's Big Bash League

At 15 years of age, Darlington signed with the Sydney Thunder ahead of the 2017–18 Women's Big Bash League season. In 2018, she was selected as the captain for the Thunder's first female Indigenous XI. Darlington earned her WBBL debut in the opening match of the 2019–20 season on the same day of her Year 12 English exam. She made her first major impression on the league in her third appearance by taking a difficult match-winning catch on the last ball of a three-run victory against the

Melbourne Renegades The Melbourne Renegades are an Australian professional men's Twenty20 franchise cricket club based in Melbourne, the capital city of the Australian state of Victoria. They compete in the Australian Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash ...

Blacktown ISP Oval Blacktown International Sportspark Oval is an Australian rules football and cricket ground located in Rooty Hill, a suburb in Sydney, Australia. The stadium was constructed in 2009 as part of the Blacktown International Sportspark. It has a capa ...

. Primarily contributing to the team through her medium-pace bowling, Darlington claimed 16 wickets during the tournament at an

economy rate In cricket, a bowler's economy rate is the average number of runs they have conceded per over bowled. In most circumstances, the lower the economy rate is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare ...

of 6.82, leading to her winning the WBBL, 05 Young Gun Award and being named the Thunder's Player of the Season. After overcoming a lower-leg injury early in the 2020–21 season, Darlington affirmed her status as "one of the best death bowlers" in the league—on 8 November at

Hurstville Oval Hurstville Oval is a multi-use sporting ground, located in the suburb of Hurstville, in Sydney's southern suburbs. Since its opening, it has held various sports at the venue – including Cricket, Rugby League, Cycling and Football. The ov ...

, for example, she restricted the

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 ...

to nine runs off the final over of the match to help secure a one-run victory. The "level-headed" teenager then delivered her first Player of the Match performance in a "chaotic" semi-final against the

Brisbane Heat The Brisbane Heat are an Australian men's professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Big Bash League. The Heat wears a teal uniform and are based in Brisbane in the Australian state Queensland. Their home ground is the Br ...

, claiming figures of 3/19 and sparking a memorable comeback victory. The Thunder would go on to defeat the

Melbourne Stars The Melbourne Stars are an Australian Twenty20 franchise cricket team, based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in Australia's Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. The Stars wear a green uniform and play their home matches at the Melb ...

in the final, and Darlington was named in the WBBL, 06 Team of the Tournament.

Women's Super Smash

Having missed out on a WNCL contract for the 2019–20 season, Darlington opted to spend much of the summer overseas playing for the

Otago Sparks The Otago Sparks is the women's representative cricket team for the New Zealand region of Otago and the surrounding area. They play their home games at University Oval, Dunedin. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competit ...

in New Zealand's domestic T20 competition, the

Women's Super Smash The Women's Super Smash, known for sponsorship reasons as the Dream11 Super Smash, is a women's Twenty20 cricket competition organised by New Zealand Cricket. The competition began in 2007–08 and features six teams, who play each other twice ...

. She took 13 wickets at an economy rate of 5.75 throughout the tournament while her team finished in third place, losing to the

Auckland Hearts The Auckland Hearts is the women's representative cricket team for the New Zealand region of Auckland. They play their home games at Eden Park Outer Oval. They compete in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield one-day competition and the Women's Supe ...

in an elimination final.

Women's National Cricket League

Darlington made her debut for the New South Wales Breakers during the

2019–20 Women's National Cricket League season The 2019–20 Women's National Cricket League season was the 24th season of the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL), the women's domestic limited overs cricket competition in Australia. Under an expanded schedule, each of the seven teams pla ...

, taking 2/29 from ten overs in a one-wicket victory against

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. On 26 February 2021, at 19 years and 31 days, she became the youngest-ever captain in New South Wales' 165-year history of senior cricket teams, standing in for regular Breakers captain

Alyssa Healy Alyssa Jean Healy (born 24 March 1990) is an Australian cricketer who plays for the Australian women's national team and New South Wales in domestic cricket, as well as the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL. She made her international debut in Februa ...

in a WNCL match against Tasmania which ended in a tie.

International career

Darlington was selected for an Indigenous team which toured the United Kingdom in 2018 as a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the 1868 Aboriginal tour of England. In March 2019, she toured New Zealand as a member of the Australian Under-19 squad, though the trip ended prematurely due to the Christchurch terror attack. Darlington was named in Australia's

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 ...

squad for their

tour of New Zealand The Women's Tour of New Zealand is a stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day event. Usually, such a race co ...

in March 2021, but was not selected in the playing XI during the six-match schedule. She was then named in Australia's squad for a multi-format series against India later in the year. During the series, Darlington 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 on 21 September 2021, as well as her

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 International is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The first Twent ...

(WT20I) debut on 7 October 2021. In January 2022, Darlington was named in Australia's squad for their series against England to contest the

Women's Ashes The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in male cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the ...

. Later the same month, she was named as a reserve in Australia's team for the

2022 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup was the twelfth edition of the Women's Cricket World Cup, which was held in New Zealand in March and April 2022. It was originally scheduled for 6 February to 7 March 2021 but was postponed by one year due ...

in New Zealand. However, she subsequently withdrew from the squad to take a break from cricket, and was replaced by

Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. After appearing in television commercials, her first starring role in a feature film came with the teen comedy ''License to Drive'' (1988), followed by the critically acclaimed ...

References

External links

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Hannah Darlington
at

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darlington, Hannah Living people 2002 births Cricketers from Sydney People educated at Westfields Sports High School Australian women cricketers Australia women One Day International cricketers Australia women Twenty20 International cricketers New South Wales cricketers Otago Sparks cricketers Sydney Thunder (WBBL) cricketers