Big-hitting Harris will be chasing boundaries
IT’S her fourth season playing for the Brisbane Heat in the WBBL, but travelling around the country, playing the game she loves professionally and hearing young fans yell her name from the boundary still has a surreal element to it for Grace Harris.
“I feel pretty proud and pretty privileged, to be honest, to have the younger girls and younger boys know who you are,” said the 25-year-old big hitting batter.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket in a lot of years where the younger fans only knew the Chris Lynns and the Brendon McCullums,” she said.
“So it’s pretty cool to hear a young kid call out ‘go Grace’ or ‘good luck for the next game’.
“It’s really encouraging and shows how far we’ve come in the women’s space in cricket.”
Harris said the amount of support the team had in Mackay last weekend was “insane”.
“We’re hoping Cairns gets behind us pretty much the same, maybe even more.”
A swashbuckling right- hander who can lay claim to records including the first ever WBBL century, as well as the fastest (42 balls), Harris is known for her no-frills approach when at the crease.
Her gung-ho batting style has earned her many an admirer, no matter where she plays.
The Heat opening bat said she had recently taken on a new motto with her batting, modelled off the mantra of Indian batting stalwart Virender Sehwag.
“I just want to see the ball and hit it,” she said.
“I don’t really care about form.”
With a penchant for finding the boundary line, Harris also admits she isn’t too fond of ones and twos.
“I don’t want to run a lot between the wickets,” she said.
“I just want to hit boundaries, so I’m going for that.”