Pace, height, control: Stella set to sizzle for Sixers

Young Sydney Sixers quick Stella Campbell is being tipped to give the speed gun a nudge in her second Rebel WBBL season after catching the eye of her head coach Ben Sawyer at preseason training. 

The 18-year-old is still in high school and will complete her Year 12 exams while in the WBBL Village at Sydney Olympic Park, while also pulling on the magenta in WBBL|06.

Campbell played 13 matches in her maiden WBBL season and faced her biggest challenge late in the campaign, when she was called on to step up in the powerplay following Ellyse Perry's tournament-ending shoulder injury.

Sawyer expects the right-armer to be buoyed with confidence thanks to that experience – which included collecting 2-12 against the Adelaide Strikers – and believes she has only improved her game through preseason training with the NSW Breakers.

"Her control has improved – one of her goals this year was to improve her control of different deliveries," Sawyer told cricket.com.au.  

"She had to open the bowling for us and bowl in the Powerplay (last season) and in the last two games in particular she had to bowl to Meg Lanning and Sophie Devine – two of the best batters in the world – and she held her own.

"She's another year stronger and another year older and has better control of what she's doing. 

"I'm working with the NSW team and I've had the opportunity to work with the Aussie team and Stella is one of the quickest on the radar.

"I'm excited to see how she puts that out on the park."

Sawyer said Campbell had been clocked in excess of 115kph during recent training sessions, putting her within reach of the country's quickest female bowler Tayla Vlaeminck, who regularly hits 120kph. 

"Stella is up there," he said. "'Tay' is the quickest in the country but Stella's not far behind."

Injuries, including Perry's, saw the Sixers call on their youngest players more than they would have planned in WBBL|05.

They missed the finals for the first time, but the silver lining is young players including Campbell, 17-year-old pacer Hayley Silver-Holmes and 19-year-old batter Maddy Darke all head into WBBL|06 with serious game time under their belts.

Sawyer expects them to be handed even greater responsibility this season.

"It's a choice (and) I think they're ready to go," he said. 

"Last year we gave them little parts of the game here and there and they showed they could handle it. 

"Stella had some great numbers. We want to get them involved in the game more. I think that's the exciting part – it's not through necessity, they've done really well and we want to expose them to more situations."

Speaking to The Scoop podcast last week to preview the WBBL season, former Australia leg-spinner Kristen Beams also named Campbell as her player to keep an eye on at the Sixers.

"I think she's really coming into her own," Beams said. "She's probably a foot taller than the last time people have seen her, she seems to be growing and growing. 

"I think she's a really good option from a bowling point of view because she hits high up the bat with that height and she comes into a team where she's surrounded by great players.

"That's going to help her get better and better. 

"She's stronger and taller and I'm looking forward to seeing her play this year."