Belinda Vakarewa

Belinda Waimakare Vakarewa, an Australian cricketer who has represented her national team in the 50-over World Cup. A right-arm pacer hailing from New South Wales, Vakarewa represented Hobart Hurricanes in the Women’s Big Bash League. 

A ten-year-old came to know about cricket during the "come and try" day in her primary school. The pacer started her career by playing in local clubs in Western Australia, before graduating to play for Campbelltown City and Magpies Cricket Club at the junior level. 

In 2015, a promising Vakarewa signed her maiden professional contract with Sydney Thunder during the inaugural season of WBBL, where her club finished as Champions and the pacer took six wickets during the edition. She was later added to the New South Wales squad for the 2015-16 Women's National Cricket League season. 

Vakarewa had a poor season during WBBL|2, but she returned strongly during the third edition of the tournament with 11 wickets. The national selectors could not ignore such strong performances, named her in the 15-player Australian squad for the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup. However, Vakarewa could only get a single chance during the pinnacle event as she made her ODI debut against Sri Lanka and went wicketless.

In 2019, she shifted her base in WBBL as Hobart Hurricanes signed the pacer for the fifth edition of the league, which turned out to be Vakarewa’s year. She grabbed 20 wickets at an impeccable average, strike rate, and economy. After that flashing season, Cricket Australia handed Vakarewa the annual contract for the 2019-20 season. 

She also toured the United Kingdom with Australia A for a full-fledged tour and she performed well in all three formats. Then she was included in the squad to host India A for the limited-overs series. Despite that, the national selectors excluded her from the 15-player squad for the World T20 of 2020. 

The talented pacer has made her name in the domestic circuit but now she would be desperately waiting to don the Australian jersey again, then cement her place in the national team. 

(As of March 2021)