Thunder star makes impact after bad trip
THEY’VE won just one of their eight matches so far in this season’s WBBL, but the Thunder remain an outside chance of sneaking into the top four now that Hannah Darlington is back in the side from a freak injury lay-off.
The young quick missed the first half of the season because of a knee injury that required surgery, but she’s back and showed glimpses of her best as the Thunder went down to the Sixers in the Sydney Smash at North Sydney Oval.
Darlington was tipped to be out for six weeks but returned a few days early for the derby. She bowled Aussie superstar Alyssa Healy and then whacked an unbeaten 21 off just nine balls to fall two runs short of her highest score.
“I probably forgot how long it’s been since I actually played some competitive cricket, so I was really excited to get out there, especially in the lime green,” she said after the game.
“I’m not a very good cricket watcher at all. I bite my nails already, so sitting on the sideline trying to cope watching the girls, especially when they’re away from Sydney and I’m on the couch (was tough).”
Having made her international debut last year, 2022 was meant to be the year Darlington emerged as a genuine star of women’s cricket.
But a bizarre injury at training put a halt to those plans.
“There’s not much to it. I simply tripped over my two feet,” she said.
“There’s not a cool story behind it or anything. I was bowling in the nets early one morning to get some loads in, but I landed a bit funny and tripped over and that was it.”
It’s been a meteoric rise for Darlington, who claimed 51 wickets in her first three seasons, but she says she’s not quite at her best just yet.