Renegades young gun ruled out for WBBL season

Promising young fast bowler Maitlan Brown will miss the remainder of the Rebel WBBL season after suffering a hamstring injury.

The Melbourne Renegades quick fell awkwardly while batting during her team’s defeat to the Hobart Hurricanes on Tuesday, with scans confirming a tear to her hamstring tendon.

The injury is a heavy blow for both the 23-year-old and the Renegades, who are yet to record a win in WBBL|06 and already missing New Zealand fast bowler Lea Tahuhu due to a side strain. It is unclear how long Brown will be sidelined for.

The Renegades have made one change to their squad for this weekend’s matches against the Sydney Thunder and Adelaide Strikers, bringing Courtney Neale into their group.

Brown had been bowling with impressive pace in the early stages of the WBBL season, coming in fresh off her first stint in an Australian squad in September and October.

She was regularly hitting speeds of 118-120kph during her 3.1 overs against the Sydney Sixers last Sunday, with a match high 124kph; speeds well in excess of the 110-112kph she was averaging during the latter stages of WBBL|05 and similar to those clocked by South Africa and Thunder speedster Shabnim Ismail earlier on Sunday against Brisbane Heat.

It was a display that caught the eye of Australia and Sixers wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy.

"You can see by the way she's running in, she's really charging in, running in fast and putting everything into each delivery," Healy said following the Sixers' win over the Renegades.

"I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with her up in Brisbane during the international series and I faced a lot of her in that quarantine period and she really impressed me with the new ball."

Brown was part of Australia's extended 18-player squad who took on New Zealand in Brisbane last month but did not manage to break into the world's best XI for an international debut during the three T20Is and three ODIs.

"I thought she was going to get the nod for the one-day series to come in and cover Pez's role with the new ball … it didn't fall that way but she impressed a lot of people in the nets with her ability to move the ball and run in and hit the deck," Healy continued.

"She bowls a yucky bouncer for a batter, a skiddy slidey one that you feel like it's going to hit you in the head.

"She's a real talent … these young girls are given the opportunity to be full-time cricketers and look what they're doing, they're pushing the barriers and I think that's a beautiful thing."