Voll's evolving role has young gun coming to the fore

One of the more curious storylines of the Brisbane Heat's WBBL|09 campaign has been the role of Georgia Voll.

The prodigiously talented 20-year-old, who has been tipped for eventual higher honours, started the season batting at No.3 and expecting to play a minor role with the ball, albeit one still expanded from previous seasons.

By Wednesday night's Challenger final, Voll was batting at No.9 and took a career-best 4-19 with the ball.

She was shuffled down from first drop into the middle-order following the late arrival of New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr earlier this month and continued to slide further down after that, eventually finding herself behind Charli Knott, Laura Harris, Jess Jonassen and Bess Heath.

Speaking after her star turn with the ball against the Scorchers at the WACA Ground on Wednesday, Voll said she was determined to make the most of whatever opportunity she was granted.

"It's pretty special," Voll said of her career-best haul.

"I haven't taken a lot of wickets during the season, been more of that economical bowler and I've enjoyed that role and it hasn't really bothered me.

"But it's nice to get rewarded … if you bowl in the right places for long enough, then you're bound to get a bit of success at some point.

"It's been nice to contribute in that way.

"Obviously, I would love to be batting a bit higher but that's the role that I'm playing for this team, and if that's the role that I need to do then I'm more than happy to do that."

Before this season, Voll's off-spin had been used just twice in 43 matches.

In WBBL|09, she has bowled 37.5 overs across 14 matches, taking eight wickets, but her spell against the Scorchers was by far the most damaging, as she removed Sophie Devine, Chloe Piparo, Maddy Darke and Alana King to help seal the Heat's spot in the final.

"I've also been working a lot on my bowling, on closing out as well as just trying to get through an over in the middle (of the innings), so it's been nice to be able to get the opportunity to have a bowl (in matches)," Voll told The Scoop podcast earlier in the season.

"I worked on it through the preseason knowing that would be something I'd be doing, we just didn't know how much, to be honest.

"It could be maybe one over, maybe two, and maybe none.

"It's just been that I've done okay the last couple of games that I've actually got a few more overs, which has been nice.

"I love bowling, I love getting into the game that way as well."

This will be Voll's first WBBL final since her debut in 2020.

It has been a taxing run home for the Heat, who flew from Brisbane to Perth on Sunday night, played back-to-back finals and then found themselves on an early morning flight to Adelaide on Thursday.

But Voll is confident they can shake off the fatigue and become the first team to win the title from outside the top two since the WBBL introduced its new finals system in 2021.

"The last couple of years, we've missed out on the final so it's really exciting and super cool to get down there," she said.

"I think that's why we do all the fitness work we do in the preseason, and I think (the short turnaround and travel) won't bother us too much.

"I think it's great that we've actually carried some momentum, to be honest, I think it's probably done us good."

WBBL Finals

The Eliminator: Brisbane Heat beat Sydney Thunder by 44 runs

The Challenger: Brisbane Heat beat Perth Scorchers by 67 runs

The Final: Adelaide Strikers v Brisbane Heat | Adelaide Oval | December 2 at 7.10pm AEDT (6.40pm ACDT)

Grab your tickets or tune in on the Seven Network, Fox Cricket, Kayo or ABC radio