In their quest to explore exotic talent, the Perth Scorchers management stumbled upon a rare cricketing commodity during their visit to Bali earlier this year. Perth Scorchers women's coach Becky Grundy and high performance boss Kade Harvey were mighty impressed by what Ni Made Putri Suwandewi had to offer. Suwandewi, aged 29 is a rookie pacer who made her international debut for Indonesia in 2019. Gifted with a menacing inswinger and deceptive slower delivery, Suwandewi maintains a jaw-dropping economy rate of 2.97 RPO which is by far the best from anyone in the history of women's T20I cricket.

With veteran quick Piepa Cleary forced to wait on the sidelines due to a knee injury, the door was left ajar for the young Indonesian quick to feature in one of Australia's biggest cricketing carnivals. She has been signed in as an Associate rookie for the Scorchers ahead of the upcoming WBBL season. As per the current WBBL guidelines, franchises are allowed to enlist players from the Associate nations and then place them outside the 15-player squad.

More about the Indonesian fast-bowling sensation

Suwandewi has been a standout player for Indonesia and has starred in numerous international fixtures for her country in recent times. Ever since making her T20I debut, Suwandewi has snapped an unbelievable 49 wickets in 40 T20I wickets at a stunning average of 8.18. Moreover, her career-best economy rate also makes her a tough contender with the ball as well. 

The rookie fast-bowling sensation straight away left a lasting impression upon her arrival in Perth on Saturday where she quickly garnered the attention of some of the key members of the coaching personnel during a routine training exercise. Suwandewi also confessed that she had been observing the WBBL closely and expressed her desire to play her part in it someday. Despite being short in stature, Suwandewi is armed with all the necessary traits a premium fast bowler should possess making her a force to reckon with. 

What does the Perth Scorchers team management think of Suwandewi? 

During a conversation with ESPNcricinfo, Harvey, the high performance coach for the Scorchers showered heaps of praises on Suwandewi. Harvey believes that the 26-year-old is truly capable of performing on the big stage and expects her to play a decisive role for their side in the forthcoming WBBL edition. Her natural ability to extract sharp inswing movement coupled with a highly deceptive slower ball were some of the major traits that stood out for Harvey. While observing her closely during the training session, Harvey also learned that Suwandewi has great control over her length and can fire in the yorkers at will. 

Both Grundy and Harvey expressed their gratitude for acquiring the services of this young Associate pacer and truly recognized her importance to the side and what she brings to the table. The duo has acknowledged that the availability of international players through the course of the tournament will certainly be an ongoing challenge which is where Suwandewi's presence could prove quite handy. Despite hailing from an underprivileged cricket background in Indonesia, the depth of Ni Made Putri Suwandewi's skill makes her a rarity in modern-day cricket. 

Scorchers will open their account against Melbourne Starson on October 27 at the WACA where she is expected to work alongside the T20 WC-winning captain Sophie Devine who will take charge of the Perth-based outfit this season. 

Big Bash has introduced multi-year deals which will help the clubs sign international talent in a bid to keep overseas players in the tournament for a longer time as well. However, this will allow overseas players to bypass the draft and sign multi-year deals with clubs ahead of Weber WBBL|10 and KFC BBL|14 as well.

However, Cricket Australia today announced each club can sign one overseas player to a maximum three-year deal in both the men’s and women’s competitions, which will allow them to skip the lottery of the draft and negotiate directly with the team of their choice as well. However, from WBBL|11 and BBL|15 onwards, they need to be available for the entire season including finals, which is designed in part to help reduce the loss of international players to rival T20 leagues in the second half of the men’s Big Bash League as well.

The multi-year deals will help the clubs

“We have worked closely with clubs and the ACA (Australian Cricketers’ Association) to continue developing and enhancing the Big Bash, and a key focus has been ensuring the best players continue to compete in the Big Bash, and for longer periods,” said Alistair Dobson, CA’s general manager of Big Bash Leagues.

“The opportunity for international players to ink multi-year deals with teams not only strengthens the league’s global appeal but also provides clubs with greater stability and strategic planning capabilities.”

With the inception of South Africa’s new franchise league (beginning in early January) and the UAE’s International League T20 competition (beginning in mid-January), Big Bash clubs struggled to keep overseas talent for the entire season despite the introduction of a new draft system before BBL|12 as well. For example, last season’s champions Brisbane Heat lost both stand-in captain Colin Munro and wicketkeeper Sam Billings to the UAE competition before the finals as well.

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Meanwhile, the Sydney Sixers also lost opener James Vince to the UAE, Adelaide Strikers – who lost to the Heat in the Challenger – lost Adam Hose and Jamie Overton, while Perth Scorchers also saw the absence of Laurie Evans during the crucial knockout phase of the season as well.

“The 10 games is about right, but I definitely think we could shorten the start and end,” he said. “In England with The Hundred, they want it done inside a month and it’s a brutal schedule but that’s the game we’re in. We’ve had a lot of downtime (between games) and I think that way you’ll get the best players coming back without any clashes and get the finals done.”

However, next summer’s Big Bash fixtures are likely to be released over the coming months whereas the new multi-year signing rule comes into immediate effect, with the men’s contracting embargo for BBL|14 lifted today as well.

Clubs can pre-sign overseas players on one, two or three-year deals at one of the existing draft salary bands

Moreover, another addition this season will allow clubs to sign any player having a CA contract during the retention week outside of the 10 available places, even if they have not previously played for their team as well. The full contracting period will begin following the retention week on Tuesday, April 9, which also includes the opportunity to sign one international player as well.

The WBBL|10 contracting window is set to open in the upcoming weeks after the length of the new season is finalised. Moreover, the discussions about reducing the women’s tournament after the men’s competition moved to a 10-match home-and-away fixture for each club last season as well.

However, clubs can pre-sign overseas players on one, two or three-year deals at one of the existing draft salary bands (Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze) or at a negotiated price above the Platinum rate, which was $420,000 per season for men’s players in BBL|13 or $110,000 for women in WBBL|09 as well.