Meteors coach and Sydney Thunder assistant Jono Dean has hailed the impact of England women's captain Heather Knight on the club's run to this year's Big Bash finals.
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The star all rounder has been instrumental in earning the Thunder a semi-final shot at the two-time defending champion Brisbane Heat on Thursday night, scoring 403 runs and taking nine wickets en route to a third-placed finish.
She's also provided a leadership springboard for captain Rachael Haynes, while proving an important mentor for the club's younger squad members.
In his first year as a WBBL coach, Dean said Knight's influence had been profound.
"She's a ripper, she's been fantastic for our group and she's just fit in extremely well," Dean said.
"She's engaged with everyone in our squad from the top down to the number 16 on the list. A lot of our girls have been playing a few pranks on her up in the room, getting amongst it, having a bit of fun.
" I've got Rach Haynes here who's an Australian captain. Then we've got Heather Knight who's the England captain, and seeing how the top end of the female game go about their cricket, their preparation and everything as professional athletes it's been an awesome experience."
Dean took over from David Drew as Meteors coach earlier this year, and jumped at the opportunity to be Trevor Griffin's assistant when the opportunity arose.
His first WBBL coaching experience has been confined to the restrictive Sydney bubble which will burst following the league's decider on Saturday night.
The Melbourne Stars or Perth Scorchers will await the Thunder in the final, should Dean's side overcome the classy Brisbane Heat.
"They've been on a roll the Heat, they have a team full of really quality players and a good fast bowling unit," Dean said.
"One of the ACT girls, Nicola Hancock, is bowling really well, they've got some world class players that are playing really exciting cricket.
"We're the same, we won the last two when we needed to.
"It's about peaking at the right time and hopefully our kids can contribute and our experienced players can contribute well on Thursday night under pressure.
"I think we match up well against their bowling attack, and we play on a really good wicket at North Sydney which encourages plenty of free-flowing, attacking cricket."
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Dean will return to Canberra at the conclusion of the truncated WBBL tournament and resume his Meteors duties.
"We're building a really strong program down in Canberra, and we've got a strong link, a strong connection with the Sydney Thunder," Dean said.
"We're really fortunate there's that link there."
James Buckley
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
James is a Queanbeyan boy enjoying his second stint at the Canberra Times, more than eight years on from his first. In between he's traveled the world, and spent time covering sport in Sydney.
