New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) After stepping away from international cricket duties for South Africa in 2022, Lizelle Lee has spent the last few years playing in Australia's domestic circuit, while being based in Hobart with her wife Tanja and their two kids.

Now, as she prepares for her maiden tryst with the Women’s Premier League (WPL) through Delhi Capitals (DC), there's palpable excitement in Lizelle, the opener-cum-keeper, about being part of a franchise hungry for clinching their first title.

"It's been pretty good over here. Yes, been to the beach once, beautiful place, it's really busy. I think it's just the whole WPL (experience) in all (to soak in). I mean, I haven't played here before. So, it's just the experience and an awesome opportunity to be with the Delhi Capitals. They've been such a good franchise. Also I just want to learn and hopefully at the end of this tournament, we can lift the trophy," Lizelle said in an exclusive conversation with IANS from DC's pre-season camp in Goa.

One of the most appealing aspects of Lizelle being acquired by DC in last year’s mega auction has been the prospect of her reuniting with former South Africa teammates Marizanne Kapp and Laura Wolvaardt. The thought of being spared Marizanne’s fierce bowling drew a playful sigh of relief from Lizelle, even as the prospect of batting alongside Laura brought a gentle warmth in her voice.

"It's amazing. Look, I didn't think I'll play with them again in the same team. So, it's pretty cool to have them in the same team again and it's going to be great not to bat against Kapp for a change and that's going to be awesome.

“I've had a few net sessions with Laura Wolvaardt now and it's been good that we've reunited because we haven't batted again with each other in about four years. It's pretty cool to have them here. It's been a very long time since we (Laura and me) have played together. So, I'm just looking forward to it," she said.

Lizelle's batting has long been synonymous with power-hitting, and the ability to hit boundaries effortlessly making her a force to reckon with. "It's just something that happened naturally. But over the years, it's maybe evolved a little bit, and changed with the game.

“Sometimes it's not just all about the power, but it's like how you can manipulate the game, field and those sort of things. So, I'm just trying to evolve with the game, and hopefully I can continue that for a few more years," she said.

It has also been backed by work away from the spotlight. "I've been working really hard behind the scenes with fitness and being in the gym and those sort of things, which I think led to having a really good preseason.

“In the WNCL in Australia, I scored a few runs there, so that sort of helped me to give me a little bit of momentum going into the Big Bash. I didn't have the best scores in the Big Bash, but I feel like playing a bit aggressive and playing very positively really helped me to set me up," she added.

One of the important lessons Lizelle has carried is the importance of authenticity in her batting approach, regardless of which team she represents. "It's a team sport for a reason, and that's to play the way you play. When it doesn't matter which team you go to, you still have to play the way that you play, because that's the reason you're in that team. If it's being aggressive or whatever it is, you just have to keep doing that. That's something that I've learnt, and I just need to continue doing that."

It's a mindset that has served her well across playing WBBL, WNCL and occasionally The Hundred. "Good question. I don't know, but look, I've only played in the Big Bash for the past few years and haven't played in a WPL or the Hundred for a while. So it's good to be back in these tournaments, and hopefully I can get big up in the Hundred as well. But look, these are great tournaments to be a part of, and it's also tournaments where you have to score runs to make sure you go there again, and hopefully we can do that this season."

Based in Australia, she's been able to manage her commitments more carefully, thus saving herself from burnout. "Luckily, I don't have that problem as much anymore. I feel like your international players who play for the countries have a lot of that. I mean, they have all these tours in between, and then they have the T20 leagues, so they're on the road a lot of times.

“I'm living in Australia, I played in the Big Bash, and this is my first away trip for a very long time. So I feel like it's something that I need to get used to again, especially if I want to continue doing this for the next few years. But look, you just have to find ways to manage your needs, and at the end of the day, you have to put yourself first as a person, and then as a player."

Looking beyond her playing days, Lizelle has already identified what she'd like to pursue and its umpiring. "It's funny how most of the players that finish, they either go out of cricket or they go into coaching, and I sort of want to find a way to stay in cricket, and I don't want to do coaching. I actually do love umpiring because I've done a few games, and that's something that I want to do after playing cricket."

Last month, Lizelle was half of the first female umpires to officiate in a men's third-grade game in Tasmanian Premier cricket, and also served as an on-field umpire in the Female U19 National Championships.

"Australia's given me a few opportunities to umpire in some championships, and I've really enjoyed it. I feel like as my schedule allows it, I'll do that as much as possible, and then hopefully when I'm done with cricket, which is a couple of years away, that's something I can just continue doing."

From DC’s perspective, Lizelle's recruitment addresses multiple needs. "Lizelle Lee's signing was about addressing two long-standing needs - top-order firepower and an overseas wicketkeeper. Historically, Delhi Capitals have alternated between using an overseas batter and an Indian wicketkeeper, but with Lizelle, we get both in one player.

“She gives us explosive starts alongside Shafali, and her ability to play both pace and spin with equal ease adds great value. Lizelle's match-ups are very strong, especially her sweep options against spin. Ideally, if things go right, you would expect her and Shafali to put up 60–65 runs in the Powerplay without taking high risks.

“Her presence not only gives us power at the top but also solves the wicketkeeping balance issue, letting us play an extra Indian cricketer elsewhere in the XI," said CricViz analysts, who are a part of the Delhi Capitals scouting team, to IANS.

Lee is impressed with the squad DC have assembled, though they had to get in leg-spinner Alana King to replace seam-bowling all-rounder Annabel Sutherland. "It's a pretty balanced team and they recruited pretty well. It's sad that we lost Belsy just before the tournament.

“But look, we got Kingi and she's a really good replacement. So, it's going to be a good tournament for us. It's funny how T20 actually works, but if we can all just stick to what we know and what we can do best, hopefully that will go our way."

Having been in India before for a few bilateral series with South Africa and 2016 T20 World Cup, Lizelle’s focus in Goa has been to adapt her game to conditions which Navi Mumbai and Vadodara will present. "I've been in India a few times, but it's been a while since I've been in Mumbai and all those places. So I'm looking forward to playing on those venues again.

“But I feel like the wicket we have here is maybe a bit different. We're at a new stadium. So look, at the end of the day, you just have to adapt to the conditions as quick as possible. But I am just trying to stick to what I do best and stick to the basics and make sure I get that right."

The growth of domestic Indian players has particularly caught her eye. "It's been really good. I feel like there are a lot of youngsters that have been going through the ranks and performing really well. So, it's just good to see what the WPL has done to the domestic players. That's probably one of the standouts - to see the domestic players play with some of the international stars and just be doing really well."

From a recent warm-up game, that impression has only strengthened. "It's been amazing and actually quite incredible to see how they improve. I always like watching players one season and look at them again in the next season and see the improvement they have. I feel like that's what the domestic players in India have been doing. So I'm also excited to see how, in the next month, these players improve."

DC have been the bridesmaid three times in the WPL's short history. But Lizelle doesn't believe there's any curse attached to it. "I definitely don't think that DC has a jinx on that. I just think they've been doing extremely well to get in the final. It's just a little hurdle that we need to step over and hopefully I can contribute to that. Hopefully at the end of the season, we can lift the trophy as a team."

The signs are there of Lizelle being a leading hand to break that jinx – her unbeaten 77 off 44 was the highest ever individual score in a WBBL final, as the Hobart Hurricanes sealed an eight-wicket win over Perth Scorchers to lift the title for the first time.

“Look, we've played at Ninja Stadium a few times now. It's one of those grounds where you don't really know what's enough, but it has to be a high total. Restricting them to the total we did, we felt like we had a good chance, and then we started batting really well.

“It was probably at the start, which was around the 10th and 11th over, where I thought it's going to be our game. So, look, it's probably one of those games that in the field, it didn't go our way. We dropped a lot of catches, but the bowlers did extremely well to restrict them to a defender of a chasable total. The batters just did well to get that."

As DC prepare to take the field for another WPL season, they'll be hoping Lizelle's experience and firepower at the top of the order provide the spark they've been searching for to win the title.

--IANS

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