Erin Osborne

Erin Osborne

Erin Alyse Osborne (born 27 June 1989) is a female cricketer who plays for New South Wales and Australia. An off spin bowler, she made her international debut in early 2009 after topping the wicket-taking aggregates in her debut season for New South Wales in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL). However, she has found it difficult to maintain a regular position in the Australian team because of the presence of Shelley Nitschke and Lisa Sthalekar, two spin bowling all-rounders who are ranked in the top ten in the world for both bowling and all-round performance.

After scoring an unbeaten century for New South Wales at Under-19 level in 2007, Osborne made her WNCL during the 2008–09 season. After taking two wickets for 13 runs (2/13) from ten overs on debut, she took three wickets in each of the next two matches. She later took 4/18 against Victoria and ended with 15 wickets at 14.20 as New South Wales took out the WNCL. Osborne was rewarded with selection for the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand, and took 3/32 in her third match, ending the series with five wickets. She was retained for the 2009 World Cup held in Australia, playing in six of the hosts' seven matches. She took nine wickets at 19.77.

Osborne was selected for the 2009 World Twenty20 in England but did not play in any of the matches. Australia stayed for a bilateral series against the hosts, and Osborne was dropped after going wicketless in the first two ODIs and being required to bowl less than half of her overs; she was also overlooked for the one-off Test. During the 2009–10, Osborne took 15 wickets at 14.17, including a haul of 3/33 in the final against Victoria, helping to secure a 59-run win and a fifth consecutive WNCL title for New South Wales. She was named the player of the match for her contributions. In the T20 competition, she took eight wickets in seven matches. In a series for the Australian Under-21s against New Zealand Emerging Players, Osborne was dismissed once in scoring 129 runs and took six wickets at 15.50.

Osborne was selected for the Rose Bowl series at the end of the season but had limited opportunities because of the presence of Sthalekar and Nitschke. She played in six of the eight ODIs and bowled less than half of the possible number of overs, taking five wickets at 32.20. She played in only one of the five T20 internationals, taking 1/13 from two overs.