THE 10th edition of the Women’s Big Bash League kicks off this weekend, and ahead of the tournament Rookie Me Central will take a look at all the teams, and see what their chances at the tournament may be.

In part one of two, we will look at the remaining four teams – Melbourne Stars, Perth Scorchers, Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder.

MELBOURNE STARS

The green side of Melbourne have really struggled to make an impact on the competition in recent seasons, but with some big ins will be looking to change that this season.

The Stars pulled off one of the biggest coups of the offseason, signing South African star Marizanne Kapp on a multi year deal, who will bring much needed experience to a pretty young bowling attack. They also picked up some other handy experience in the draft in Indian pair Deepti Sharma and Yastika Bhatia.

It is going to be a big year for Annabel Sutherland too, taking on the captaincy duties for the first time. It will also be a big season for Meg Lanning, who does not have international duties any more to take away her focus and can just give her all to the Stars.

They did lose Nicole Faltum and Milly Illingworth to their crosstown rivals, but overall their inclusions are more significant than their departures, which does not always happen for the Stars.

Melbourne Stars WBBL10 Squad: Yastika Bhatia (India), Sophie Day, Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Maisy Gibson, Hasrat Gill, Liv Henry, Marizanne Kapp (South Africa), Meg Lanning, Rhys McKenna, Ines McKeon, Sasha Moloney, Sophie Reid, Deepti Sharma (India), Annabel Sutherland

PERTH SCORCHERS

The Scorchers had a pretty good season last year, but will be wanting to push higher than their third place finish they earned last season.

The Scorchers certainly went for variety in their draft choices, retaining Sophie Devine while also drafting Englishwoman Amy Jones and Indian Dayalan Hemalatha. Those three will all play huge roles this season for a side that is pretty young overall.

Youth is the overarching theme of their new faces this season, bringing in the likes of Ebony Hoskin from the Thunder and Carly Leeson from the Renegades.

They did lose English pair Natalie Sciver-Brunt and Lauren Winfield-Hill though, so they are some big shoes to fill.

Perth Scorchers WBBL10 Squad: Chloe Ainsworth, Stella Campbell, Piepa Cleary, Maddy Darke, Dayalan Hemalatha (India), Sophie Devine (New Zealand), Amy Edgar, Mikayla Hinkley, Ebony Hoskin, Amy Jones (England), Alana King, Carly Leeson, Lilly Mills, Beth Mooney, Chloe Piparo Associate rookie: Ni Made Putri Suwandewi (Indonesia)

SYDNEY SIXERS

For a team that is as star studded as the Sixers are, they should realistically be finishing much higher than the fifth place they did last season.

However, with their Aussie stars like Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner and Alyssa Healy likely to feature for much of, if not the whole season, there is hope for those in magenta that things will go at least a little bit better this time around.

They did pull off a massive coup in the offseason, pinching rising Kiwi star Amelia Kerr away from the Heat. They also retained Sophie Ecclestone and drafted her English team mate Holly Armitage.

The new face that will be really interesting to watch is Caoimhe Bray, with the 15 year old becoming the last signing the Sixers made and is really a rising star of the future. She starred at the recent Under 19 tri series for Australia and is also a highly touted soccer player.

The Sixers did lose Chloe Tryon, Suzie Bates and Jess Kerr though, so they will leave big shoes to fill.

Sydney Sixers WBBL|10 Squad: Hollie Armitage (England), Caoimhe Bray, Maitlan Brown, Erin Burns, Mathilda Carmichael, Lauren Cheatle, Sophie Ecclestone (England), Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), Isabella Malgioglio, Kate Pelle, Ellyse Perry, Kate Peterson, Courtney Sippel

SYDNEY THUNDER

The green half of Sydney did make the finals last year, but will be wanting to make a much further run into this year’s finals after only making to the Eliminator last year.

Their new faces are an interesting mix of youth and experience.

South African Shabnim Ismail is a massive inclusion, and will provide some much needed speed in the bowling line up.

They have also crucially managed to retain Heather Knight and Chamari Athapaththu, while also bringing in another Englishwoman in Georgia Adams.

They did lose Marizanne Kapp though, which will be a massive loss for the developing Thunder side.

A couple of the side’s Aussies will be interesting to watch this season. Tahlia Wilson is having a really strong patch of form at WNCL level at the moment, while Phoebe Litchfield is set to step up in a big way, taking on captaincy duties for the first time.

Sydney Thunder WBBL|10 Squad: Georgia Adams (England), Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka), Sam Bates, Ella Briscoe, Hannah Darlington, Sienna Eve, Saskia Horley, Shabnim Ismail (South Africa), Sammy-Jo Johnson, Heather Knight (England), Anika Learoyd, Phoebe Litchfield, Claire Moore, Taneale Peschel, Georgia Voll, Tahlia Wilson