The honour is given to the best player under 21 years of age, as selected by Cricket Australia's National Selection Panel.

The 18-year-old juggled her NSW Higher School Certificate commitments throughout the campaign while starring at number three in an injury-hit Thunder outfit, scoring 263 runs in the tournament.

"It was a bit difficult, but I must say I think it took a bit of the stress off the HSC," she previously said of studying and playing cricket.

"I wasn't thinking about it all the time. It was hard to study throughout the games because I wanted to go chill with the girls, but I just had to get it done. I'm not saying I probably did enough study, but we'll see in the results."

Previous winners of the award are Darcie Brown, Hannah Darlington, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Ashleigh Gardner and Lauren Cheatle.

"It means a lot to be recognised with this award. It's a surprise, to be honest. I could think of a number of other young players who would be deserving of this award, which is really exciting for the future," Litchfield said.

"Batting at No. 3 was a challenge but also a great opportunity. I was very privileged that Trevor Griffin trusted me with that spot and I hope I made the most of it."

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