Melbourne Stars will look to local bowling depth to help cover the loss of their experienced international allrounder for the business end of WBBL|11
Melbourne Stars are set to lose Marizanne Kapp at a crucial point of their Weber WBBL|11 campaign, but Kim Garth has backed her replacement Maia Bouchier to help lead the club’s charge up the table.
Kapp will return home following the Stars’ December 1 game against Hobart Hurricanes to link up with the South African squad ahead of their white-ball series against Ireland, ruling her out of their final two regular season matches and, should they qualify, finals.
The opening T20I at Newlands will be held on December 5. Cricket South Africa have previously had some flexibility around permitting players to miss international games for the Big Bash, but with the 2026 T20 World Cup looming all Proteas will be required to report for duty.
The Stars already have their replacement in situ, with England batter Bouchier joining the squad in Melbourne this week.
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While the 26-year-old is not a like-for-like replacement for allrounder Kapp, she does have previous experience with the club having played for the Stars in WBBL|07 and |09.
She will be hoping for kinder memories than her visit to Australia earlier in 2025, where she scored 42 runs across six innings for England in the multi-format Ashes.
Garth said she felt Bouchier could slot in anywhere in the Stars’ batting order, while she pointed to their home-grown pace depth to cover Kapp’s overs with the ball.
“She’s a very versatile player, she really takes the game on and I’m really excited to see Boosh back in green and I think she’s going to add a lot to this group,” Garth said of Bouchier.
“We’ve got a lot of depth in this group, which is really exciting.
“We’ve seen what Rhys McKenna can do with the ball, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw her potentially take the new ball, and she hasn’t bowled all her overs in every game.
“We’ve got Georgia Prestwidge out there who hasn’t bowled, so we do have a lot of depth to cover that.”
Given how settled the Stars’ opening partnership has been, with Meg Lanning joined by Rhys McKenna, Bouchier is more likely to slot into the middle-order role occupied by Kapp.
Since joining the Stars from cross-town rivals the Renegades this season, Prestwidge – who featured for Australia A against India A earlier this year – has played every game but has yet to bowl.
Regardless, Kapp’s departure will be a loss for the Stars, who are on track to feature in the finals for the first time since WBBL|06.
The veteran South African has taken four wickets in their last two games, while she produced the best T20 innings of her career when she smacked 93no from 51 balls against Brisbane Heat.
“Kappie is going to be a massive loss, it seems like she’s playing the best cricket now that she’s leaving us, which is frustrating,” Garth said.
“But as I said, I feel like we do have the depth there to cover that.”
Nadine de Klerk (Heat) and Laura Wolvaardt (Strikers) will also miss their club’s final two regular season games, with replacement players yet to be confirmed.
Weber WBBL|11 Standings
Team
Matches played
M
Wins
W
Losses
L
Ties
T
No results
N/R
Net Run Rate
NRR
Deductions
Ded.
Total points
PTS
1
HUR
7
5
2
0
0
0.109
0
10
2
STA
6
4
1
0
1
2.152
0
9
3
REN
7
4
3
0
0
0.57
0
8
4
SCO
7
4
3
0
0
-0.413
0
8
5
SIX
5
3
2
0
0
-0.533
0
6
6
STR
6
2
3
0
1
0.067
0
5
7
THU
6
2
4
0
0
-0.519
0
4
8
HEA
6
0
6
0
0
-1.045
0
0
Legend
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
