Nepali national women’s cricket team allrounder Rubina Chhetri is all set to get a first-hand experience of top quality cricket in Australia as she was on Tuesday picked up for the Women’s Big Bash League-2 (WBBL).

Chhetri was one of the eight Rookie players from Associate nations selected for the twenty20 event set o kick off on December 10 in Sydney. The joint initiative between Cricket Australia (CA) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) provides the opportunity to develop emerging players in non-traditional cricket countries. Apart from Nepal, players from Hong Kong, Ireland, Scotland, Papua New Guinea and China were drafted in for this season, according to the ICC media release on Tuesday.

Chhetri, who will represent Melbourne Renegades in the league, said she was excited with the prospect of having the opportunity to mix up with the best cricketers of the world. “In fact, I have watched men’s Big Bash League but never heard of such league for women,” said the Nepal skipper.

The programme provides players the chance to be exposed to elite cricket, with the eight rookies to train with their WBBL club during a two-week placement and attend home matches during that period. In the event of an injury to a contracted player, WBBL clubs will be permitted to use their Rookie as a local replacement player, which would not contribute to the club’s overseas player limit. 

“The ICC is very excited by this programme, which provides a fantastic opportunity for some of the top female cricketers in Associate and Affiliate Cricket to experience and learn from the best female players in the world. The commitment from Cricket Australia to provide opportunities such as these is very much valued and highlights the benefits of a globally integrated approach to the growth of the game,” ICC Interim Head of Global Development Andy Hobbs was quoted as saying by ICC.

Head of Big Bash League, Anthony Everard said he was delighted with ICC’s continued commitment to the project. “The inaugural season of the WBBL was a great success last summer and through this initiative, players from non-traditional cricket countries were able to be a part of that.”