Until Sunday morning, left-arm seamer Lucy Hamilton had not grabbed a single wicket in seven Big Bash League games. But the 18-year-old struck with her second ball of the day, when the Brisbane Heats bowler castled Melbourne Stars’s batter Yastika Bhatia. The penultimate ball of the over, she snared her wicket, that of Annabel Sutherland.

The evening turned brighter as she dismissed her idol Meg Lanning caught behind with the first ball of her second over, Tess Flintoff and Deepti Sharma to return with stellar figures of 4-1-8-5, thus becoming the youngest to pick up a five-for in the league at 18 years and 193 days. Her effort restricted Stars to 138, a target the Heats overcame in 17.3 overs. Her craft was simple. She bowled a good length on stumps and moved the ball both ways.

The left-arm quick, which itself is a rarity in women’s cricket, from Bundaberg was drafted into the BBL when she was only 16, after her performance in the Under-19 World Cup squad in 2022, where she picked up five wickets at an average of 10.5. But opportunities arrived few and far between.

5-FA for Lucy Hamilton!

The best graduation gift you could possibly ask for! #WBBL10 #BringTheHEAT pic.twitter.com/t1fjyUIrqS

— Brisbane Heat (@HeatBBL) November 17, 2024

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She, though, said the wicket drought was not playing in her mind. “I wasn’t really thinking about, ‘Oh, I haven’t taken a wicket yet,’ or whatnot,” Hamilton told reporters after the match. “It was more just a sense of backing what I do and I know it’ll come. I had to be patient, obviously I’ve played a fair few games. But it finally came and it was really thrilling.”

In between games, though, she has to manage her academics too. “My parents have just been driving me back and forth, which is a lot for them,” Hamilton said. What does she do on long journeys? “I like watching movies in the car,” she says. Sunday might have been straight out of a movie script for her.