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Amy Smith 'has shown remarkable maturity for a 15-year-old' - Corinne Hall

The Hobart Hurricanes legspinner already has an impressive list of batters in her wickets column

Andrew McGlashan
Amy Smith has claimed some big-name batters in the WBBL  Getty Images

Lizelle Lee, Ashleigh Gardner, Erin Burns, Rachael Haynes and Phoebe Litchfield.

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That's not a WBBL top order (although it would be a pretty handy one) but rather the wickets that 15-year-old Amy Smith, the Hobart Hurricanes legspinner, has taken so far this season.

The first of those, Lee, made her the second-youngest wicket-taker in the tournament's history behind Hayley Silver-Holmes from the Sydney Sixers. In a competition known for its promotion of young players, Smith is the latest to join the list.

However, her first professional wickets came at an even younger age: last season she made her debut for Tasmania in the WNCL as a 14-year-old. Her chance in the WBBL this year was opened up by an injury to fellow legspinner Maisy Gibson that ruled her out of the tournament and she is taking the opportunity with both hands.

"I'm quite maternal, so I'm quite protective of her, but she doesn't need that," Hurricanes captain Corinne Hall, said. "She's very composed, has bowled against the best batters in the league, the most destructive players in women's cricket, and she's kept her nerve each time. She's shown remarkable maturity for a 15-year-old."

Facing the Sixers' powerful top order, her first over went for just two against Gardner and Ellyse Perry. She was then brought back in the 16th, with the Sixers set to cut loose, and removed Gardner and Burns in the space four balls.

Her third over, the 18th, went for just six runs and Hall conceded she had probably erred in not bowling her out although against the Thunder - where she had Haynes caught sweeping and defeated fellow teenager Litchfield for a stumping - she did not bowl her quota either.

"It's not a situation she's been in before and that was going through my mind, whether bowling the last couple of overs would change the way she was bowling, but it didn't," Hall said after the match against Sixers. "She's remarkably composed for a 15-year-old cricketer. She's just trying to pick up everything she can as she goes. We can't ask for anything more from her at the minute."

Smith immerses herself in any cricket that is on around the world and Hall revealed in the future that some of the mannerisms of her namesake, Steven, may be on display.

"She's quite a quiet person but I think she's quietly confident of her skills - that's one of her real solid traits that will hold her in good stead throughout her career. She's very well planned, she loves cricket, she watches very match that is possibly going on in the world and she loves learning.

"Steve Smith is one of her favourite players and you'll probably see a few of her mannerisms replicating a few of his, she's a student of the game and think she has a long career in cricket."

Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo

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