Player Profile
In summer 2021, Alana King produced a moment of magic at Emirates Old Trafford that will not be forgotten in a hurry, the Australian leg-spinner taking a hat-trick against the Manchester Originals whilst playing for Trent Rockets.
For King, it was made all the more special for the fact it came on the ground where her hero, Shane Warne, had bowled the ball of the century in the 1993 Ashes.
Both Victorians, and King has that certain X-Factor that the late great Warne had as well.
No doubt, Lancashire fans are in for a treat when King arrives in the North West. She is without doubt a bums on seat cricketer as she is a dynamic lower order batter to boot.
King, 29, is set to play for the Red Rose in both 50-over and T20 cricket. The majority of her appearances for the county will come in the latter - the Vitality Blast.
She is no stranger to success. A three-time Ashes winner, 2022 was a year she will never forget having won the 50-over World Cup and gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
In 2021, she also won the Big Bash with Perth Scorchers. In 2023, she was a T20 World Cup winner as well.
King came through the Victoria age-group set-up and made her senior debut in the WBBL for Melbourne Stars in December 2015. She debuted in List A a little under a year later for Victoria.
She recently went beyond 300 wickets in her senior career, currently standing on 302 to be precise. The majority of those - 177 - have come in the T20 format, including a best of 5-16.
She has a List A best of 5-12 to her name and 5-53 in Test Cricket for Australia.
King made her international debuts across all three formats in the first couple of months of 2022, starting with an ODI against England at Adelaide - a victory in which she struck once.
She is of Anglo-Indian descent, with her parents having emigrated from Chennai.
A talented junior tennis player, she was a ball kid at the Australian Open Women’s singles final at Melbourne Park in 2011 when Kim Clijsters defeated Li Na. Sports mad King also tried her hand at softball and baseball whilst growing up.
King is two wickets away from reaching 100 in all international cricket.
That will not come until after she has represented Lancashire, something she is incredibly excited about. She said: "When I look at the past great names that have represented the county before me, it truly is a privilege to represent this team.”
Returning to that aforementioned hat-trick, her Thunder team-mates Kate Cross and Sophie Ecclestone were both dismissed as part of it. You suspect that might get mentioned on the odd occasion when King links up with Lancashire.
And what a prospect - an Ecclestone and King partnership in county colours. It’s going to be a fun few months through the middle of the 2025 campaign.