The Queensland Fire have named an unchanged squad of thirteen ahead of tomorrow’s Women’s National Cricket League Final against NSW at Cricket Central in Sydney.
Hopes Burn Bright For Fire
Queensland will take the same squad to Sydney that defeated Victoria in two matches last weekend to qualify for the WNCL Final, the third season in a row that they have made the decider.
Tomorrow’s match is a repeat of last year’s Final, when NSW beat the Fire at Allan Border Field.
There are three members from the Queensland team that won the State’s inaugural WNCL title in 2020-21, with captain Georgia Redmayne and allrounders Charli Knott and Grace Harris reprising their roles from the squad that defeated Victoria in Melbourne.
Redmayne was player of the final in the 2020-21 victory and is Queensland’s leading runs-scorer this season with 453 runs at 50.33, including three centuries.
Allrounder Harris will look to deliver a compelling performance in the Final to boost her selection chances ahead of the final selection of the Australian T20 squad for the ICC World Cup in England in June.
A Finals winner in the Women's Indian Premier League earlier this year with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Harris hopes to make it two trophies in as many Finals tomorrow.
Fire coach Mark Sorell, who was an assistant coach in the 2020-21 triumph, said the squad had prepared well this week.
“We’re really proud of the resilience and character shown by this team. We started the season well, fell off the pace a bit, and then came home strongly,’’ he said.
“The team had to be honest with ourselves along the way, and the commitment everyone has shown to get us into the Final has been first class.
“As a group, we have been able to benefit from a settled combination of selfless senior players and some of the most exciting young players in the country.”
Fire squad players Harris, Ruby Strange and Lilly Bassingthwaighte all featured in Western Suburbs’ Katherine Raymont Shield Premiership win last Sunday, backing up 24 hours after their WNCL victory over Victoria.
Tomorrow’s match will be broadcast on Foxtel, and streamed on Kayo, the CricketLiveApp and cricket.com.au
Women’s National Cricket League
FINAL
Queensland Fire v NSW
Cricket Central, Sydney
Tomorrow, 9am start Qld time
Georgia Redmayne (c)
Charli Knott (v-c)
Bonnie Berry
Lucy Bourke
Sianna Ginger
Nicola Hancock
Grace Harris
Jess Jonassen
Annie O'Neil
Grace Parsons
Ruby Strange
Lauren Winfield-Hill
Mikayla Wrigley