Since moving to South Australia last year, home visits have been a rarity for Melbourne Renegades' WBBL star Courtney Webb.
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With the first 20 games of the tournament confirmed for a Tasmanian hub, the 21-year-old is ready for her homecoming, set to play five games in the state.
"I've been home three or four times across the whole 18 months that I've been away, so it has been pretty hard," she said.
"I guess the extra restrictions that we have on top of the border restrictions have made that really difficult too as you can't really afford to be stuck inside for two weeks with hotel quarantine because it messes up all of our loads and programs.
"That's just the risk with travelling at the moment, so I've had to be really careful with when I've gone home.
"It's been hard to get home and see family and friends as much as I would like to but this Big Bash tournament will give me the opportunity to spend more time in Tassie in the next few weeks than I have in the past 18 months, so that's really exciting."
Despite representing Tasmania on and off for two seasons of WNCL competition, the former Riverside High student has only played three matches of professional cricket in the state.
Her first Tasmanian Big Bash League match will fittingly be against the Hobart Hurricanes on October 16 in the capital, before heading to Launceston for the jam-packed October 23 schedule that will see all eight teams play at Invermay Park or UTAS Stadium.
While her local knowledge hasn't been called upon yet, South Launceston's two-time Cricket North premiership player knows it will come in handy down the track.
"We haven't obviously been together yet because everyone's away and international players haven't arrived," she said.
"We are still all out in our state programs at the moment but I think once I get there, there will be a fair few questions asked, especially around some of the Launceston grounds that aren't as familiar as Blundstone to the girls."
Webb enjoyed a breakout WBBL season last season, named Renegade of the year after scoring 246 runs at 30.75.
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
