Part of WPL 2026 auction, former South African opener eyes international return as an umpire
Former South African cricketer Lizelle Lee may have retired from international cricket three years ago, but that hasn't stopped her from pursuing the Olympic dream in a different capacity on the field. Lee has been a beast in domestic T20 competitions and doesn't want to give up playing just yet.
Former South African cricketer Lizelle Lee is on the heels of playing her 100th Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) game for the Hobart Hurricanes, the current table-toppers, on Wednesday, November 26, against the Melbourne Stars. While Lee still remains one of the in-demand players in domestic T20 competitions, the 33-year-old, who is now an Australian citizen and plays as a local for Tasmania and the Hurricanes, has already set her eyes on the next stage of her career, as an umpire at the highest level.
Lee, who was also shortlisted among 277 players for the upcoming WPL 2026 mega auction, officiated a men's third-grade game in Tasmanian Premier cricket, being one half of the all-female duo and will head to Newcastle to umpire in the Female U19 National Championships, following the ongoing edition of the WBBL. However, Lee doesn't want to stop at that and wants to realise the Olympic dream, but in a different capacity.
"I don't want to take away my cricket, because I still feel like there's a lot in me, but I would not mind being one of the top international umpires," Lee told reporters in Hobart this week. "That's something that I really want to do – and who doesn't want to go to the Olympics, it doesn't matter what you're going for.
"So I would love to do that as well … 2032, there's a Brisbane one, so fingers crossed, maybe if I'm done playing by then, hopefully I can do that," Lee further added.
Lee retired back in 2022, but feels there is still a lot in her to give back to cricket as a player. She had a stupendous season last year when she went around bullying the bowling attacks, scoring a couple of centuries, including a career-best 150* against the Perth Scorchers, however, the ongoing edition has been a bit quiet comparatively, with the right-hander amassing 182 runs, but the strike rate is still in the 150s.
Her opening partnership with Danni Wyatt-Hodge has been one of the big reasons why the Hurricanes are leading the table with five wins in six matches, and she feels that she has been hitting the ball well and that a big score is round the corner. "I feel like I can always do better, and I wish I could score a hundred every single game, but that's clearly not possible
"But I think I've been hitting the ball really well, I've just been making very small mistakes that's been costing my wicket. That's always the goal, is making those small scores into big ones, and at the end of the day, I just want to take the team across the line," Lee said ahead of her milestone game in the WBBL.