Melissa Bulow makes Southern Stars squad

Melissa Bulow has made it to Australia's AIS-Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars squad for the 2012-13 contract period, following her fine domestic Twenty20 season with the Queensland Fire. Bulow, a batsman, is one of 18 players in the squad, which was selected by the women's national selection panel [WNSP] on Tuesday. Shelley Nitschke, who retired from international cricket last July, and Annie-Rose Maloney, are the players to miss out from the previous squad.

The Southern Stars are supported by Australian Government, through the Australian Sports Commission Women in Sport Media Grant, which aims to extend the reach of women's sport in the Australian media.

"The forthcoming season includes two ICC ranking events - the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in Sri Lanka in September 2012 and the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup to be held in India in March 2013. It is pleasing to see minimal change in the squad, reflecting the good performances of the team over the past 12 months," WNSP head, Julie Savage, said. "[The omitted] Annie-Rose Maloney had experienced a disappointing domestic season with the ball.

"Melissa Bulow has been added to the squad following an outstanding Women's Twenty20 season for the Queensland Fire, in which she was the leading run-scorer, scoring 505 runs at an average of 50.5 and a strike-rate of 119.39."