After a rocky 12 months that saw her dropped from the Australian team and struggling to land a contract for this season’s Women’s Big Bash, Osborne is enjoying her cricket as much as ever.

“Cricket to me is really enjoyable again,” she said.

A big part of that enjoyment is the excitement of being in a new environment with Osborne signing with the Melbourne Stars for WBBL 3, which gets underway on Saturday.

“It’s a bit like the first day of school,” she said.

The 28-year old is expected to play a prominent role with bat and ball for the Stars, who will be a different looking outfit this season.

“Obviously they’ve had a turnover of players. There’s seven new players in the squad,” she said.

“Our goal is to win eight out of the 14.”

That’s the magical number she thinks they’ll need to finally crack the finals with the Stars finishing fifth the last two tournaments. 

Stepping up to captain the ACT Meteors in the Women’s National Cricket League and sliding up the order, Osborne is looking forward to taking on a bit more responsibility with the bat for the Stars too.

“I’ll be batting in the middle order,” she said.

“I was sort of all over the place with the Thunder, which was disappointing.

“I’m looking forward to having a bit more security.”

She comes in in good form after hitting a half-century for the Meteors in their loss to the Western Fury in the last WNCL round.

“It was nice to break through. I’ve been sitting around scores of 20s and 30s the last couple of seasons,” she said.

Osborne will also be a key weapon with the ball with her off-spinners. She expects to be used in the first six and probably in the death overs.

“It’ll probably be crucial I perform well with the ball,” she said acknowledging that spinners will be important in restricting teams.

The Stars have a tough first assignment, drawing defending champions Sydney Sixers. The clash will divide the northern interest with Gunnedah’s Emily Leys part of the Sixers squad.