Scorpions raid Queensland to add fire to WNCL squad

A pair of Queenslanders have made the move to Adelaide to boost the South Australian Scorpions squad for the Women's National Cricket League season.

Jemma Barsby, the daughter of former Bulls opening batter and coach Trevor, and rising wicketkeeping star Josie Dooley, are the high-profile recruits for the Scorpions.

With Tahlia McGrath added to Australia's national contract list this summer, along with state teammate Megan Schutt, the Scorpions had some extra room to manoeuvre, bringing in four new players.

Allrounder McGrath has been touted as a future leadership option for the Australian team, and will initially be used to replace the recuperating Ellyse Perry after earning her first full national contract in April.

Barsby, 24, is an ambidextrous off-spin bowler who has become an outspoken campaigner for multiple sclerosis awareness after she was diagnosed with a mild form of the disease as a 19-year-old.

While she takes precautions to regulate her body temperature, it hasn't affected her playing, and she made 121 runs with a high score of 63 from six WNCL matches for Queensland last season.

Fellow Queenslander Dooley, 20, played in an Australia A T20 series against India last December, and is a rising star with the gloves and bat.

Dooley showed off her creative side during the COVID-19 lockdown, inventing the 'World Isolation Games' to fill the void left by the postponed Tokyo Olympics, sharing her new feats of athleticism with the world via a series of videos.

With no cricket bat in sight – but plenty of humour –Dooley embraced a host of new sports, such as the Kath and Kim inspired race walk, toilet paper weight-lifting and completing all five disciplines of the modern pentathlon using random items from around her house.

Dooley switched WBBL clubs last season, leaving the Brisbane Heat to joint the Melbourne Renegades for more opportunities behind the stumps, her first stint living away from home.

Joining the pair as new recruits at SA is middle-order hitter Courtney Webb from Tasmania, who showed he prowess with a final-ball six to win a match for the Renegades against the Sydney Sixers in last summer's WBBL.

Completing the recruits is local product Brooke Harris, who returns to the Scorpions squad after an outstanding 2019-20 season in Premier Cricket, where she took 34 wickets at 8.24 – the most wickets ever for a women's First Grade campaign – and finished sixth in the competition for runs with 232.

South Australia are expected to announce their men's Redbacks squad tomorrow, while recommendations from the Hussey Review into the state's set-up, conducted by former Australia star Mike Hussey, are expected to be published later this week.

IN: Jemma Barsby, Josie Dooley, Courtney Webb, Brooke Harris

OUT: Shae Daley, Stacey Oates and Tabatha Saville

Nationally contracted: Megan Schutt, Tahlia McGrath

Scorpions squad: Jemma Barsby, Sam Betts, Darcie Brown, Emma De Broughe, Eliza Doddridge, Josie Dooley, Ellie Falconer, Brooke Harris, Tegan McPharlin, Annie O'Neil, Bridget Patterson, Alex Price, Courtney Webb, Amanda-Jade Wellington