Women's Premier League: Days ahead of the auctions of Women's Premier League 2023, Delhi Capitals have announced their support staff members. The Delhi franchise has named The Hundred winning coach Jonathan Batty as their head coach for the inaugural season of the women's tournament. In addition, former cricketers Hemlata Kala and Lisa Keightley are named as assistant coaches. Moreover, Biju George has been named as the fielding coach.
Batty was a successful coach in The Hundred as she led the Oval Invincibles women's team to titles in 2021 and 2022. He has also coached the Women's Big Bash League side Melbourne Stars and the Surrey women's side. After being named as head coach Batty said, "I'm absolutely thrilled to be joining Delhi Capitals as head coach for the inaugural WPL," Batty said in a statement issued by the franchise.
Notably, Kala has played for India in seven Test matches and 78 ODI games. She has also been the chief of the national selection panel. Under her, India reached the final of the ICC World Cup in 2017, "I am confident WPL will be a game changer for women's cricket," Kala said after the appointment. Meanwhile, Australia's Keightley played in 82 ODI matches and nine Test games. She led the English women's team as a coach to the 2022 ODI World Cup final. "WPL is a game changer for women's sports around the world, and we have the opportunity to showcase cricket to a new audience," Keightley said.
While the Women’s T20 World Cup is the centre of attraction in female sports, the auctions of the first-ever Women’s Premier League (WPL) are grabbing the headlines. The auctions of the Women’s Premier League 2023 will take place on Monday (February 13) and as many as 409 players will be put under the hammer. BCCI has also announced a female auctioneer for the auctions. The first-ever WPL auctions will have a female auctioneer according to a report published by Cricbuzz. According to WPL 2023 Player Auction Rules, communicated to the five WPL franchises, the BCCI said, Malika Advani, a Mumbai-based art collector consultant for Modern and Contemporary Indian art and partner in Art India Consultants firm, will oversee the auction on Monday.
