The Wellington Blaze will be able to draw on the talents of the world’s best T20 player when they travel South to face the Otago Sparks in the Dream11 Super Smash tomorrow.

WHITE FERNS captain Sophie Devine will return to the Blaze squad and make her first appearance of the Super Smash campaign following her return from Australia after the Women’s Big Bash.

Devine was the standout player in the Blaze’s perfect Super Smash season last year, picking up the Super Smash Player of the Year award and leading her side to their third T20 title on the bounce.

“I’m massively excited to be joining the Blaze group again, I love representing Wellington any opportunity I get,” said Devine.

“I’ve been following the team’s progress really closely and have been impressed by their performances so far in the Super Smash and I’m looking forward to getting involved and hopefully contributing to some match winning performances for the team.”

Blaze head coach Ivan Tissera said it was exciting to welcome back a player of Devine’s calibre.

“Sophie was an inspiration for us last summer and we have no doubts she will come in and make a big impact for us again this year,” he said.

“We have a number of younger players that are playing more regularly in the side this year, so having Sophie come back into the frame will be a great experience for those players.

“We’re looking forward to building on the weekend’s win and continuing the momentum as we come in to an important period of the competition.”

Devine’s return is one of two changes to the squad that beat the Northern Spirit at the Basin Reserve on Saturday – Deanna Doughty and Beth Molony drop out of the side and Georgia Plimmer comes back in after impressing at the National Under 19 Tournament in Lincoln last week.

The top of the table Wellington Firebirds will be out to continue their impressive start to the Dream11 Super Smash campaign in the second match of the day against the Otago Volts.

The Firebirds are four wins from four and come in to this match off the back of a resounding 80-run win over the Knights on Saturday – a Wellington T20 record victory.

“We’re really pleased with the way we have started the competition,” said Firebirds head coach Glenn Pocknall.

“The batting and bowling performances have been really pleasing and we have been especially impressive in the field and we want to continue to set that standard tomorrow.

“We know that T20 cricket can change quickly so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves and are focused on putting in another strong performance in Dunedin tomorrow.”

The Firebirds are unchanged for tomorrow’s match and another win would see them register six Super Smash wins in a row – equalling their longest ever T20 winning streak.

Play gets underway from the University of Otago Oval at 11.40am between the Sparks and Blaze, followed by the Volts and Firebirds at 3.10pm.

Wellington Blaze squad | Dream11 Super Smash | v Otago Sparks
Maddy Green (c)
Rebecca Burns
Sophie Devine
Xara Jetly
Leigh Kasperek
Amelia Kerr
Jess Kerr
Caitlin King
Jess McFadyen
Thamsyn Newton
Georgia Plimmer
Maneka Singh

Wellington Firebirds squad | Dream11 Super Smash | v Otago Volts
Michael Bracewell (c)
Finn Allen
Hamish Bennett
Tom Blundell
Devon Conway
Jamie Gibson
Troy Johnson
Iain McPeake
Jimmy Neesham
Rachin Ravindra
Ben Sears
Logan van Beek
Peter Younghusband

Dream11 Super Smash presented by KFC
Thursday 14 January 2021

Otago Sparks v Wellington Blaze | 11.40am
Otago Volts v Wellington Firebirds | 3.10pm
University of Otago Oval, Dunedin

Article added: Wednesday 13 January 2021