BBL 2019-20: Julia Price becomes the first female coach in the men's tournament
What's the story?
Former Australia Women's Team wicket-keeper, Julia Price has joined the Brisbane Heat backroom staff ahead of the 2019-20 Big Bash League. Price will be the assistant to head coach Darren Lehmann after Ryan Harris leaves for the U-19 World Cup with the Australian team.
The background
47-year-old Price hails from Sydney and she played for Queensland Women's team and Tasmania Women's team in the domestic circuit. She even played 10 Tests and 84 ODI matches for Australia but she could record only a solitary half-century in her entire career. She had excellent numbers in the wicket-keeping department as Price took 90 catches and executed 32 stumpings.
Though she was not a big name in the international arena, the cricket experts recognize her as a person with a smart cricketing brain.
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The heart of the matter
Brisbane Heat made this big announcement during the WBBL final match between Brisbane and Adelaide Strikers. "I'm pretty excited about [the role], I have to admit," Price said while on commentary during the match.
Expressing her excitement over the new opportunity, she added:
"I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to be around the guys and seeing how they do it differently to what the girls do. Having been in the Hurricanes set up for the WBBL, it will be interesting to see how the BBL does it. I had a bit to do with the Hurricanes boys but this will be a completely different level now … I can learn off both the players and the coaching staff."
Brisbane's head coach, Darren Lehmann too was present in the commentary box and he heaped praise on her new assistant by talking about her records. He said:
"We'd been chatting about whether there were some professional development opportunities for her through her USA role and we just went from there. She has an excellent cricket brain and plenty of experience as a head coach, so I can see her fitting quite neatly into our set-up."
He revealed why the team appointed her as the assistant coach and continued:
"We knew we had Ryan Harris with us for the start of the BBL before he goes to the U19 World Cup, but there was still a position available for us to fill on the coaching staff and we thought this was a great chance to innovate and think outside the box. I'm pleased the Heat have been able to go in a direction that we haven't seen yet in the BBL in having a woman on the coaching staff, but I don't believe it will be the last time it happens either."
What's next?
It will be intriguing to see how Julia performs in her new role during Big Bash League 2019-20.