Cricketer bounces back to Player of the Year

A Bunbury cricketer has bounced back from injury to be crowned Western Australia's under-18 Player of the Year..

In a stunning example of triumph over adversity, Hannah Merritt claimed the honour after just one season back in the game following knee reconstruction surgery.

For the 17-year-old, being named one of WA's top performers at the Karen Read Medal presentations night earlier this month was reward for her hard work since recommencing training just last year.

"Coming back from having a season off, I didn't expect it," she said.

"I was just trying to find my feet again, get through the season as best as I could - and ended up having a pretty good one."

Merritt began training again in June, benefiting from one-on-one sessions, and by January she was representing WA at the Cricket Australia Under-18 Female Championships in Ballarat.

There, the talented bowler put in an impressive performance, recording the second-most dismissals with 17 wickets in seven games.

Merritt was named in the team for the championships as a result of her recovery efforts and, in September, will travel to the Bupa National Cricket Centre, where she will have the opportunity to fine-tune her skills.

The South West Academy of Sport athlete, who has her sights set on furthering her cricketing career, is happy all her hard work has paid off.

"I really pushed to get the results and it's always good to get rewards for them," she said.

SWAS cricket coach Orazio Santalucia praised Merritt for her recent progress.

"Her dedication to recover from a knee reconstruction has been very pleasing and to see the way she led the WA under-18 bowling attack at the national carnival was a credit to her hard work," he said.

"Hannah is very dedicated to her career and I envisage that she will push for full State selection in the not-too-distant future."