Lend Lease Breakers captain Alex Blackwell will go head-to-head with her twin sister Kate for the first time later this week when she leads NSW into battle against Western Australia in Perth (January 2-4).
After three years in retirement, Kate is making a comeback to cricket this season with the Western Fury. She and Alex both represented NSW together from 2002 to 2010 and in that time they became the first identical twins to represent Australia in cricket.
While they have played trial matches against each other before, this will be the first time that they have faced-off in a competition match.
This is the final preliminary round in the 2013/14 Women’s National Cricket League and Women’s T20 competitions with the Lend Lease Breakers sitting on top of both ladders.
They have already qualified for the WNCL Final and are in the box seat to host the decider on February 16, while they have also secured their place in the WT20 Semi Finals on February 5 at Blacktown International Sportspark.
The Lend Lease Breakers and Western Fury will play the first of their two WT20 fixtures as part of a double header with the KFC T20 Big Bash League match between the Sydney Thunder and Perth Scorchers at the WACA Ground (January 3, 12:40pm WST).
Their second WT20 match is at the WACA on January 4 (10am WST), while their WNCL fixture will be on January 2 (10am WST) at Floreat Oval.
The Lend Lease Breakers enjoyed comfortable victories over the Fury last season, including winning their WNCL Semi Final by 110 runs and the WT20 Final by five wickets.
Selectors have named a squad of 13 to travel to Perth. The players selected are (clubs/regional zones in brackets):
Alex Blackwell (captain – Universities/Riverina)
Rachael Haynes (vice-captain – Universities)
Sarah Aley (Bankstown Sports)
Nicola Carey (St George-Sutherland)
Sarah Coyte (Campbelltown-Camden)
Alyssa Healy (Sydney)
Claire Koski (Campbelltown-Camden)
Sharon Millanta (Bankstown Sports)
Erin Osborne (Sydney/Central North)
Ellyse Perry (Sydney)
Leah Poulton (St George-Sutherland/Newcastle)
Angela Reakes (Sydney/North Coastal)
Kara Sutherland (Universities/North Coastal)
The matches at the WACA Ground will also be an opportunity for Australian players Alex Blackwell, Rachael Haynes, Ellyse Perry, Erin Osborne and Sarah Coyte to experience playing on the ground ahead of Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars’ Ashes Test against England which starts at the venue on January 10.
