WA fast bowler Chloe Ainsworth named Young Cricketer of the Year

West Australian rising star Chloe Ainsworth has been rewarded for her outstanding performances this season named the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year at the 2025 Australian Cricket Awards in Melbourne on Monday.

In just her second season the teenager is already one of Australia’s most exciting young bowlers having already claimed this year’s WBBL|10 Young Gun Award for her efforts with the new ball.

Claiming the wickets of some of the world’s best batters the 19-year-old finished the season with 12 wickets at 18.58 with an economy rate of 5.86 while also picking up 10 wickets for WA in the WNCL.

Her performances saw her picked for the Women’s Under 19 World Cup in Malaysia where she took three wickets.

To be eligible for the Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year Award, players must be aged 24 or younger at the start of the voting period (December 5, 2023).

They must also have played fewer than 25 List A or T20 matches at that time, and cannot have previously won the award.

The Perth Scorchers quick showed no signs of being impacted by a stress injury to her foot which disrupted most of her preseason, sitting out the T20 Spring Challenge and a round of WNCL with a groin injury.

She took the scalps of Aussie pair Meg Lanning and Annabel Sutherland in the Scorchers opening game at the WACA and accounted for international stars Chamari Athapaththu, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Capsey, Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry throughout the tournament.

Ainsworth was unable to accept the award in person as she is still in Malaysia following Australia’s World Cup semi-final loss to South Africa.