Perth Scorchers quick joins impressive list of former winners after making her mark in WBBL|10, while the BKT Golden Bat and Golden Arm winners have been confirmed
Ainsworth's stellar season crowned with Young Gun award
Rising star Chloe Ainsworth's outstanding season WBBL season has been rewarded, with the Perth Scorchers quick named the WBBL|10 Young Gun.
Ainsworth, 19, showed no signs of second-year blues this season, playing the role of new-ball aggressor with aplomb as she claimed the wickets of some of the world's best top-order batters.
She finished the season with 12 wickets at 18.58 with an economy rate of 5.86.
Meanwhile, Scorchers teammate Alana King has claimed the BKT Golden Arm award as the regular season's leading wicket taker, with the Australian leg-spinner picking up 20 scalps at 13.30.
Sydney Sixers skipper Ellyse Perry finished as the Golden Bat, leading the scoring with 424 runs at a strike rate of 137.21.
Curiously, none of the trio will feature in finals, with the Sixers and Scorchers both falling just short in a tight race for finals.
"She's grown from strength to strength, and she's worked really hard on her repertoire, and she's done an incredible job for us in the Powerplay," King said of Ainsworth when speaking to cricket.com.au last week.
"She's probably been the most consistent Powerplay bowler across the whole competition, I would say, picking up big wickets for us.
"I've loved seeing what the 'Dozer' has done for us."
In 2023, Ainsworth burst onto the scene when she picked up the wickets of Lizelle Lee and Heather Graham in her first over on debut and went on to be named in the official Team of the Tournament.
This tournament, the teenager shrugged off a less-than-ideal preseason, largely spent dealing with a persistent stress injury in her foot among other niggles, to once again terrorise top-orders in WBBL|10.
She missed a round of WNCL and the T20 Spring Challenge in the lead-up to WBBL|10 due to a groin injury, but she hit the ground running in the Scorchers’ opening game of the season at the WACA, bowling Meg Lanning and Annabel Sutherland.
Alongside Lanning and Sutherland, Ainsworth has accounted for international stars Chamari Athapaththu, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Capsey, Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry in WBBL|10.
Born on September 14, Ainsworth is eligible for Australia’s Under-19 T20 World Cup squad which will head to Malaysia in January, having turned 19 two weeks after the August 31 cut-off date.
Ainsworth was part of the squad that contested the inaugural event in early 2023, but her tournament ended after just one game when she broke her thumb.
This time, she could line up alongside the likes of Lucy Hamilton, who took 5-8 for Brisbane Heat this season, Ines McKeon, who hit a half-century for Melbourne Stars on debut, and 15-year-old Caoimhe Bray, who has impressed for Sydney Sixers.
The Young Gun award – for players aged 21 or under during the tournament – is chosen by the National Selection Panel.
Every Young Gun winner from the first seven seasons of the WBBL has since debuted for Australia: Lauren Cheatle, Ashleigh Gardner, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Hannah Darlington, Darcie Brown and Phoebe Litchfield.
Tess Flintoff (WBBL|08) and Charli Knott (WBBL|09) are the two most recent winners.
WBBL|10 Finals
The Knockout: Sydney Thunder v Hobart Hurricanes | Drummoyne Oval | Wednesday, November 27 at 7.15pm AEDT
The Challenger: Brisbane Heat v TBC | Allan Border Field | Friday, November 29 at 7.15pm AEDT (6.15pm AEST)
The Final: Melbourne Renegades v TBC | MCG | Sunday, December 1 at 1.20pm AEDT