The Hunter's Caoimhe Bray has been named the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year at the Australian Cricket Awards.
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The 16-year-old NSW Breakers and Sydney Sixers all-rounder made eight Women's National Cricket League, nine Women's Big Bash League and four T20 Spring Challenge appearances during the voting period from December 2024 to December 2025.
"It's a really big privilege knowing all the past names that have been selected for the award and knowing where most of them are at now - playing for Australia and playing in all different overseas tournaments - it's a pretty incredible achievement," Bray, originally from Denman, said in a statement.
"It's even more significant in that sense because it's not voted by coaches or other staff, it's by your peers who you play with and against, and they're really recognising your achievements, so, that's really awesome to know that the people around me support me and hopefully see a future in what I can do."
Bray joins a roll call of players bestowed the honour including inaugural winner and recently named Australia captain Sophie Molineux (2017), Georgia Wareham (2019) and Darcie Brown (2022).
Bray's season was cut short after she sustained a stress fracture in her back and she is expected to be unavailable to play cricket for a period of months while she recovers.
Annabel Sutherland won the Belinda Clark Award for Australian Cricketer of the Year as well at the One Day International Player of the Year, while Beth Mooney was T20 International Player of the Year.
The awards were held virtually on February 12 because of a clash with international cricket commitments.
"Caoimhe has made an outstanding start to her career with the Sixers and the Breakers. She has demonstrated tremendous skill and potential with both bat and ball and is clearly a player with a very bright future ahead of her," Cricket NSW head of female cricket Leah Poulton said,
"Most importantly, Caoimhe is a fantastic team person. She brings an incredible energy to every group she's part of, bringing out the best in those around her.
"We congratulate Caoimhe on receiving this award and look forward to seeing her back on the park soon."
