MELBOURNE:  BESS HEATH, an English batter, has joined the Melbourne Stars team in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL). She is a replacement player for Indian batter Jemimah Rodrigues, who will miss the first weekend of games because she is competing in the Women's Asia Cup that is currently taking place in Bangladesh.

Jemimah is presently in first place among scorers after scoring 215 runs in seven Women's Asia Cup games with an average of 71.66 and a strike rate of 137.82. Jemimah is emerging as a formidable force in T20s, with 2022 being a standout year for her in the game's shortest format.

She will also make WBBL history as the first Indian player to represent Stars. In the most recent WBBL season, Jemimah played for the Stars' cross-town rivals, the Melbourne Renegades, scoring 333 runs at a strike rate of over 116.

In addition to Jemimah, Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of India, and fast-bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar will play for the Melbourne Renegades and Brisbane Heat, respectively, in the eighth WBBL season.

Due to the Women's Asia Cup, Harmanpreet will also miss the first two games for Renegades. On Thursday, the club signed English batter Eve Jones as an international replacement. In the first week of the WBBL, Brisbane Heat had already signed fast bowling all-rounder Jess Kerr from New Zealand as an international replacement for both Pooja and batter Danni Wyatt from England.

As Australia captain and batting dynamo Meg Lanning continues her extended sabbatical from the game, Stars also reported that Una Raymond-Hoey has joined the team as a local replacement player. At the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay, the team opens their WBBL season with games against the Brisbane Heat and Sydney Sixers, respectively.

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