Adelaide Strikers sign 16-year-old Darcie Brown for WBBL

Adelaide [Australia], Oct 7 (ANI): Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) franchise Adelaide Strikers on Sunday signed a three-year deal with Darcie Brown for the upcoming season.
The 16-year-old is the youngest ever player (male or female) to sign a Strikers contract and is making history for the franchise.
Born and raised in Kapunda, Brown moved to Adelaide to complete her education at Henley High earlier this year, with the school offering highly-regarded sports programs.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for Darcie to join our group - she's just an exceptionally exciting young talent and just for her to mix with the calibre of players we've got both from an overseas point of view and our locals, will be great for her development," head coach Luke Williams said in an official statement.
Brown is one of the fastest female bowlers in the state, clocking a speed of up to 116 kilometres per hour.
In early 2019, Brown was selected for the U19 Australian side at just 15 years of age. She travelled to New Zealand to play a series against their development squad.
"Raw pace is obviously Darcie's main attribute and she is certainly learning more and more around the tactics of the game and using different variations," Williams said.
"Her key strength is to bowl fast so we would be encouraging her whenever she gets the opportunity to play to do just that. That's going to be her point of difference in the competition," he added.
The Strikers will travel to Melbourne on Wednesday for a training camp, playing two practice matches against the ICC Global Women's Development squad.
"I think it's going to be a great opportunity to get the group together for some match practice and have a bit more time together leading into the competition than previous years," Williams said
"Unfortunately, we will be missing Megan (Schutt) who will be finishing up Australian duties and Stafanie (Taylor) who will still be with West Indies cricket, but they will join us back in Adelaide," he added.
Adelaide Strikers squad: Darcie Brown, Tegan McPharlin, Alex Price, Annie O'Neil, Sarah Coyte, Katie Mack, Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates, Bridget Patterson, Ellie Falconer, Megan Schutt, Tahlia McGrath, Stafanie Taylor, Lauren Winfield, Amanda-Jade Wellington, and Tabatha Saville.
The Strikers begin their WBBL campaign at Karen Rolton Oval on October 19. (ANI)