Replacement player Charis Bekker was not on the Renegades list a week ago - now she has produced the club's second-most economical display ever in her first WBBL spell
'Been a whirlwind': Bekker swaps post-uni celebrations for WBBL
A week ago, Charis Bekker was celebrating the end of her university exams at the pub in Perth with her mates.
On Saturday, she claimed the wicket of former Australia captain Meg Lanning and produced a player-of-the-match display in just her second WBBL game.
The left-arm spinner finished with figures of 1-9 from her four overs – the second-most economical four-over spell in Renegades’ history – as she helped the Renegades to a 16-run win over Melbourne Stars.
Bekker, who was part of Australia’s Under-19 T20 World Cup squad in 2023, was signed to Perth Scorchers last season but did not play a game and missed out on a contract with the club for Weber WBBL|10.
The 20-year-old had instead spent the last couple of weeks training with other Western Australia state players not involved in the T20 tournament, while also completing end-of-year exams for her mining engineering degree.
But when the Renegades arrived in Perth for their game against the Scorchers last week, minus captain and fellow left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux due to knee soreness, Bekker’s phone rang.
"All my mates at uni just finished exams, so we were actually at the pub having a drink, and I got the call," Bekker told cricket.com.au on Saturday.
"It's been a bit of a whirlwind, but pretty cool.
"(The Renegades) have been awesome, there’s a great vibe around the group and everyone gets along really well.
"I got to meet Sophie Molineux today, I was a little bit star struck, but I was like, 'play it cool, play it cool' … it's been awesome."
Bekker debuted for the Renegades at the WACA Ground on Thursday – but was not required to bowl in what ended in a two-run defeat for the Renegades – then a day later packed her bags and flew to Melbourne for the derby.
The 20-year-old was tasked with bowling two overs in the Powerplay, which went for just three runs, then was faced with Lanning in the Power Surge.
She held her nerve superbly to have the superstar batter caught for 22.
"It was pretty awesome," Bekker said.
"Honestly, I was just trying and bowl my best ball – it was my first time bowling (for the Renegades), so I was a bit nervous.
"I heard (my left-arm spin) might be a good match up for Meg and I thought, 'we'll see' but I'm glad it worked out."
The Renegades’ next assignment is a trip to Adelaide to play the Strikers on Monday.
Sitting with three wins and three losses with four games remaining in the regular season, the game will be crucial to their finals hopes.
Whether Bekker remains with the squad for the rest of the season could depend on the availability of Molineux, who has now missed two games with ‘knee soreness’ – but the Western Australian has won plenty of fans from her first two appearances in red.
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
REN
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.527 | 0 | 14 |
|
2
HEA
|
10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.384 | 0 | 14 |
|
3
THU
|
10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | -0.002 | 0 | 13 |
|
4
HUR
|
10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.189 | 0 | 10 |
|
5
SCO
|
10 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | -0.171 | 0 | 9 |
|
6
SIX
|
10 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | -0.477 | 0 | 8 |
|
7
STR
|
10 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | -0.357 | 0 | 7 |
|
8
STA
|
10 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | -0.205 | 0 | 5 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points