Teenager Phoebe Litchfield, who made an eye-catching Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) debut against Sydney Sixers last week, scored a match-winning unbeaten half-century against Brisbane Heat on Sunday, to become the youngest player in the history of the tournament to score a fifty.
At 16 years and 185 days, she broke the record earlier set by Hayley Matthews of the Hobart Hurricanes when she scored a fifty in the first edition of the tournament against the Melbourne Stars at the age of 17 and 275 days.
Lichfield shared an unbroken 97-run stand with veteran Alex Blackwell – who had made her Australian debut before her younger team-mate was even born – to help Sydney Thunder make short work of the 150-run target, winning with seven deliveries and seven wickets to spare.
Litchfield’s half-century came from 47 balls and it was a knock adorned with nine boundaries.
“It felt like a dream,” the Year 10 student said of her innings when speaking to cricket.com.au. “I was extremely nervous. Luckily I had Alex Blackwell to calm my nerves.
“They were very good bowlers and I just didn’t know what to do with them, so I was in a bit of a pickle. But we got there in the end.”
The Australian prodigy played as an underage player for the Cricket Australia XI in the U-18 National Female Championships in January 2019, finishing as the tournament’s leading run scorer with 348 runs.
She is also a member of Australia’s U-16 hockey team.
