Holly Lee Ferling (born 22 December 1995) is an Australian professional

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

Australia national women's cricket team The Australian women's national cricket team (formerly also known as the Southern Stars) represent Australia in international women's cricket. Currently captained by Meg Lanning and coached by Shelley Nitschke, they are the top team in all worl ...

in 2013 and currently plays for the

Perth Scorchers The Perth Scorchers is an Australian domestic Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the Western Australian city of Perth in the Big Bash League (BBL). The Scorchers are the current BBL Champions, having defeated the Sydney Sixers in the ...

and

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in Australia's domestic competitions. She is a right-arm

fast-medium 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''. T ...

bowler and right-handed batter.

Cricket

A right-arm fast-medium paced bowler, Ferling made four appearances during the

2013 Women's Cricket World Cup The 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup was the tenth Women's Cricket World Cup, hosted by India for the third time, and held from 31 January to 17 February 2013. India previously hosted the World Cup in 1978 and 1997. Australia won the tournament for ...

, taking nine wickets at an average of 10.55; placing her second on the bowling averages tables. She was named as the twelfth player in the team of the tournament, selected by an ICC panel. At the age of 14, Ferling made her debut in men's

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 ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, and took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

with her first three balls. She later became the first woman to be named as the Queensland Junior Cricketer of the Year. Ferling developed her game playing alongside men, something she feels has helped her to teach her where to bowl. In June 2015, she was named as one of Australia's touring party for the 2015 Women's Ashes in England, after a period of injury. In July 2015, Ferling was named as the first signing for 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 ...

in the inaugural

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 ...

. She also played for

Northern Districts Spirit The Northern Districts women's cricket team, previously known as Northern Spirit, is the women's representative cricket team of the Northern Districts Cricket Association, based in the northern half of New Zealand's North Island. They play the ...

in New Zealand during the 2015–16 season. Ferling was dropped from the Australian squad in November 2016, and subsequently required surgery on an elbow injury that ruled her out of contention for a recall ahead of the 2017 World Cup. In November 2018, she was named in 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 ...

' squad for the

2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season The 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season or WBBL, 04 was the fourth season of the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL), the semi-professional women's Twenty20 domestic cricket competition in Australia. The tournament ran from 1 December 2018 to 26 ...

. In August 2021, she joined their local rivals, 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 ...

Netball

Ferling was also an accomplished

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player. Predominantly known as a defensive player, she rose to represent the Wide Bay Thundercats in the

Queensland State Netball League The HART Sapphire Series is a state netball league featuring teams from Queensland. The league is organised by Netball Queensland. The current semi-professional league was first played for during the 2019 season. It replaced earlier state league ...

Media work

Ferling presents a podcast on women in sport called ''Girls & Glory'', launched in 2020. In January 2021, Ferling was a guest presenter on Channel Seven's coverage of the Fourth Test between Australia and India at

The Gabba The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a major sports stadium in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia. The nickname Gabba derives from the suburb of Woolloongabba, in which it is located. Over the years, the Gab ...

, with the regular commentary team unable to be present on the ground due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her performance attracted widespread praise from viewers.

Personal life

Ferling's

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

is "Bambi". In 2015, she explained to ''

The Saturday Paper ''The Saturday Paper'' is an Australian weekly newspaper, launched on 1 March 2014 in hard copy, as an online newspaper and in mobile news format. The paper is circulated throughout Australian capital cities and major regional centres. Since i ...

'': "It's because I fall over all the time."

References

External links

* *
Holly Ferling
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 ...