Villani retires from WBBL after finish with Hobart Hurricanes

HOBART: Former Australia international Elyse Villani has walked away from the WBBL after leading Hobart Hurricanes to their first title.

Hurricanes now hold the BBL and WBBL trophies after Villani’s chargers romped to an eight-wicket win over Perth Scorchers in front of a 5000-strong home crowd at Bellerive Oval on Saturday.

Additionally, the 36-year-old, who has played 99 games for Australia, revealed post-match it was her last WBBL game.

“It’s a fairytale ending and in elite sport it’s very rare to have that,” she said. “It has been playing on the back of my mind this season and I was hoping this could be the way it finished.

“I was 80% sure this was the way it was going to go to retire after the game, but as soon as we won, I knew this was the moment.”

As per details, Villani has played all 11 WBBL seasons, at Perth Scorchers and Melbourne Stars before Hurricanes, and finished runner-up three times. She joined Hurricanes for the 2022-23 competition, after the team had finished in last spot three of the previous five seasons. They’ve since built their roster and only dropped two games this year.