Elyse Villani probably couldn’t have sketched a neater finish. On a cool Saturday evening in Hobart, the Hurricanes skipper watched Lizelle Lee belt an unbeaten 77 and, just like that, the club claimed its maiden Women’s Big Bash League title – and Villani decided enough was enough.
The eight-wicket victory over Perth Scorchers, in front of roughly 5,000 at Bellerive Oval, means Hobart now hold both the men’s and women’s Big Bash trophies. Villani, 36, confirmed afterwards it was her last WBBL outing.
“It’s a fairytale ending and in elite sport it’s very rare to have that,” she said. “It has been playing on the back of my mind this season and I was hoping this could be the way it finished.
“I was 80% sure this was the way it was going to go to retire after the game, but as soon as we won, I knew this was the moment.”
The right-hander has appeared in every one of the league’s 11 seasons – first at Perth, then Melbourne Stars, and finally Hobart – and has finished runner-up three times. When she signed ahead of 2022-23, the Hurricanes had propped up the table in three of the previous five campaigns. Since then, recruitment has been sharper and this term they lost only two matches.
“Sometimes you can have a really good list and feel the pressure of that list,” Villani said. “But what this group has done really well is that at different points in the season different people performed.”
She will continue to play state 50-over cricket for Tasmania while taking on an off-field post with the Hurricanes. “Cricket has been something that has been a big part of my life and something I’ll miss a lot but at the same time you can’t sort of live this dream forever,” she added.
As for the final itself, Hobart restricted Perth to 137 for 5 – a tidy effort on a fair surface. Pace-off bowling and smart ground-fielding kept Kiwi pair Sophie Devine and Maddy Green from breaking loose. From there Lee, unhurried but brutal, lashed ten fours and four sixes in 44 balls, chasing the target with 22 deliveries to spare.
“I play a high-risk game. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t think it has sunk in yet,” Lee said, her innings echoing Mitch Owen’s men’s hundred on the same ground last summer. “They’ve won it and they’ve set an example. It was great to do the same.”
Scorchers coach Becky Grundy accepted second best on the day. “We would have taken this at the start of the tournament, to be in a final. Unfortunately not to be. They outplayed us,” she said.
Villani walks away with 99 Australian caps, one fresh trophy in her kitbag and, by her own admission, the perfect ending – rare, tidy, and entirely earned.
