Five New Zealand players will provide overseas back-up for WBBL squads during the tournament that begins in Sydney next weekend

Katie Perkins (Adelaide Strikers), Lauren Down (Melbourne Renegades), Holly Huddleston (Brisbane Heat) and Rosemary Mair (Perth Scorchers) will train alongside their allocated team but will only be available if a marquee player - either a Cricket Australia contracted name or overseas player - becomes injured or unavailable.

It is the same arrangement that saw Hayley Jensen confirmed as part of the Hobart Hurricanes' set-up.

The Renegades currently have doubt over whether New Zealand fast bowler Lea Tahuhu will be able to take part in the tournament following the injury she picked up during the series against Australia while Suzie Bates, who is with the Adelaide Strikers, damaged her shoulder in the first ODI.

The opportunity for the extra players to remain as reserves was opened up because they had already been in Australia as part of the New Zealand squad earlier this month and did not need to go through further quarantine before heading into the WBBL bubble in Sydney.

"NZC are committed to supporting our centrally contracted players wherever we can," NZC head of women's high performance Ant Sharp, said. "By staying on and being exposed to new training environments, alongside other quality players, they will continue to learn more about their game."

Mair said. "We get into Sydney on Monday and I can't wait to catch up with the Perth Scorchers. It's a great opportunity to learn more from the Scorchers set-up and how they go about their cricket. I'll be looking to glean as much knowledge as I can from the staff and players.

"There's a couple of English internationals in the squad too, so it will be interesting to compare our cricket experiences from different parts of the world."

The other New Zealand players involved as main signings for the WBBL are Sophie Devine (Perth Scorchers), Amelia Kerr and Maddy Green (Brisbane Heat) and Amy Satterthwaite (Melbourne Renegades). Former international Rachel Priest is also part of the Hurricanes squad.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.