Matilda Lugg set to learn from Alyssa Healy in Sydney Sixers' WBBL tilt

Lugg and the Sixers completed their final trial match on Monday before Thursday night's tournament opener against the Melbourne Stars.

Healy and the rest of the Australian Twenty20 squad will join their WBBL squads in Tasmania this week following a series victory over India, with Lugg relishing the chance to learn from a childhood hero.

"She's the best in the world, so for me, I just want to learn as much as I can from her and soak it all up and ask her lots of questions, and not annoy her too much," Lugg said.

"[I'll] try and service her as much as possible and get her ready for the Big Bash as well. I'm ready to go [if Healy has to miss a game], obviously that would be a big blow to the Sixers but I'm obviously really excited just to train and get amongst it.

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"If the opportunity arises, I'll take it with both hands. I've been in the WNCL squad [with the ACT Meteors] for the last four years, this is my fourth year now and obviously that high level of cricket, the professional training schedule, has got me to where I am now.

"There's some legends there like Erin Osborne, Ange Reakes, Katie Mack, some older players that I have learnt a lot from. It's helped me a lot. I've been working the last four years to try to get a Big Bash spot so it feels really nice that I've put the effort in and been rewarded."

The Sixers will be without Erin Burns for the opening rounds, after the star all-rounder played in The Hundred in England and spent a fortnight in hotel quarantine before returning home to Sydney.

Burns and pregnant wife Anna are expecting their first child later this summer, with the former hopeful of joining the Sixers once the team leaves Tasmania following their first five games.

"Erin asked to delay her arrival into the tournament this season to spend some time at home with family and that is something that we were 100 percent behind," Cricket NSW's acting head of female cricket Clare Crewdson said.

"Erin is an important part of the Sixers' squad and we had planned for her to join us in Hobart but that has now been effected by the current border restrictions around the country. We are working on a plan to have her re-join the team soon."

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