Hobart, Oct 28 (IANS) Hobart Hurricanes have appointed experienced all-rounder Nicola Carey as captain for WBBL 12, with Australia white-ball star taking the reins from her recently retired partner Elyse Villani.

Carey, who is the club's most-capped women's player, succeeded Villani following her fairytale WBBL farewell, which saw the former skipper lead the Hurricanes to their maiden championship last season. She will be supported by Heather Graham, who has been named vice-captain.

Carey is now hoping to lead her side to consecutive Big Bash titles, a feat never before achieved by the club in either the men's or women's competition.

"It's a huge honour (and) big shoes to fill, obviously, with Elyse (Villani) leaving us at the end of last season, but I'm incredibly honoured to be given the job," Carey said in a statement.

"Hopefully, I can do half as good a job as Elyse did. Having been vice-captain, I've been to a lot of the meetings and seen how Elyse has gone about it, which has been hugely beneficial. We're very different people, though, so I feel like I'll do it my way, but I don't think that'll change too much from how I go about things day to day within the group.

Carey believes the opportunity to work closely with Villani in recent seasons has provided valuable preparation for the challenge ahead.

"I put my hat in the ring for the job, but I haven’t done a heap of it during her career. But having been vice captain, I've been to a lot of the meetings and seen how Elyse has gone about it, which has been hugely beneficial. We're very different people, though, so I feel like I'll do it my way, but I don't think that'll change too much from how I go about things day to day within the group," she added.

Carey has played 88 WBBL games with Hobart since making the move from Sydney Thunder in 2019. The 33-year-old hit the winning runs against the Perth Scorchers to secure the team a historic maiden WBBL title last year.

No Hurricanes player has taken more wickets than Carey (85) in the WBBL. The left-hand batter is also the club's second-highest run-scorer in women's Big Bash history with 1,362 runs, trailing only Lizelle Lee (1,409).

--IANS

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