The Sydney Thunder have unveiled former Australian representative Lisa Keightley as their new WBBL head coach.
The first woman to coach the Australian women's cricket team, Keightley has signed a three-year contract with the Thunder and replaces Trevor Griffin, who was sacked last month after two disappointing seasons.
Keightley coached Australia between 2007 and 2008 and was also the first woman to lead the English side, leaving her post late last year after nearly three years in charge.
The 51-year-old guided England to the final of last year's ODI World Cup and in her last WBBL stint coached the Perth Scorchers to the 2017 and 2018 finals.
As a player, Keightley represented Australia in 82 ODIs, nine Tests and one T20I and was the first woman to score an ODI century at Lord's.
Keightley said she looked forward to the coaching challenge ahead.
"When I say it's a challenge, it's in the sense of the team having a couple of seasons where they'd want to be," she said in a statement.
"I'll be making sure we're competitive and winning games of cricket.
"Thunder has a core of players who have played for a number of years and have enjoyed success. I'm hoping it won't take too much."
Keightley's appointment comes one day after Cricket NSW announced Chandika Hathurusingha would leave his position as assistant coach of the Blues and Sydney Thunder to become Bangladesh's head coach.
A 26-time Test representative for Sri Lanka, Hathurusingha re-joined the Cricket NSW set-up at the beginning of the 2020 season after initially working on the coaching staff between 2011 and 2014.
His departure follows that of Phil Jaques, who was removed as NSW's Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup coach after underwhelming starts to both competitions.
