WBBL Preview: New role for JJ, Heat put final loss behind them

WBBL|09 result: Runners-up (8 wins, 6 losses), defeated by Adelaide Strikers in the final

WBBL|10 Squad: Lucy Bourke, Nadine de Klerk (South Africa), Sianna Ginger, Lucy Hamilton, Nicola Hancock, Grace Harris, Laura Harris, Jess Jonassen, Charli Knott, Shikha Pandey (India), Grace Parsons, Georgia Redmayne, Jemimah Rodrigues (India), Ruby Strange, Mikayla Wrigley

Ins: Sianna Ginger, Ruby Strange, Mikayla Wrigley, Nadine de Klerk, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shikha Pandey 

Outs: Georgia Voll (Thunder), Courtney Sippel (Sixers), Amelia Kerr (Sixers), Mikayla Hinkley (Scorchers), Mignon du Preez, Bess Heath, Ellie Johnston (Strikers) 

Potential best XI: Georgia Redmayne (wk), Grace Harris, Jemimah Rodrigues, Charli Knott, Jess Jonassen (c), Laura Harris, Nadine de Klerk, Shikha Pandey, Nicola Hancock, Grace Parsons, Lucy Hamilton

Inside word with Brisbane Heat coach Mark Sorell

New Brisbane Heat coach Mark Sorell has confirmed Jess Jonassen will go back into the top four of the Heat's batting lineup for Weber WBBL|10.

It's a role not foreign to the veteran allrounder, as Jonassen batted at the top of the order when the Heat won their last WBBL championship in WBBL|06 and was second to Beth Mooney for runs scored in the final. 

While still having an impact with bat and ball for the Heat, in recent years Jonassen has slid down the order to make room for fellow allrounders Amelia Kerr and Charli Knott. With the loss of Kerr to the Sixers, Sorell has decided to reinstate the "superstar" Jonassen into that role for the upcoming season.

"JJ is a great cricketer and her batting is quality. She will play a significant batting role for us this year and I'm looking forward to seeing that," Sorell said. 

Jonassen recently returned to the top order in the T20 Spring Challenge, playing one game for the Heat in the tournament where she made 26 runs from 24 balls batting at number four. 

She's also had a productive start to the WNCL with the bat, with scores of 73 and 89no coming in the opening rounds. 

Draft Strategy: "We look at what the balance of our team and where we think we can get the most gain. We certainly felt like a quality top order batter would help our current system. We are really backing in our existing players, our local players, so to speak. We're really comfortable with the quality of those players in our lineup but we thought if we could grab another international top order player that would really suit our game and allow us to play a certain way. That's where we landed with Jemimah Rodrigues, she just fits our group perfectly. The way she plays, where she hits the ball and we know quite a bit about her character. She's got a strong connection with Jess Jonassen so we're really excited to have her our group."

Recruiting Jemima Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey: "We've got a really strong core that we back in with our locals. We just felt that Jem would bring us a couple of good options. She can play against spin which we thought would be really valuable and also the fact she can hit the ball really square of the wicket too. We thought it was a nice balance for our group who can do that as well but we have a lot of girls that hit the ball straighter so we thought it provided a nice mix for us.

"We felt there was an opportunity there for someone like Shikha Pandey who can swing the ball early. We think she can bowl really well in all three phases of T20 cricket and she’s a really experienced player. She bowls well with the new ball, can bowl in the middle and certainly bowls well at the death. We have a connection with Shikha. A couple of years ago, she made a personal choice to come to Australia to further her career and through some connections she came to Queensland, paid her own way and committed to getting better. And she landed in our system, played some club cricket at Wynnum Manly and trained with us. We all got to know her pretty well and as a character she is top tree. We think she brings us something a bit different into our bowling dynamic with our (established) spinners. We've got quite a strong spin group but we felt she could bring us real value in there."

On Nadine de Klerk: "We had Nadine in our system in 2020 and she has always been a talented player but she was a younger, less experienced player then. She's a skilful player and a tough competitor and really fitted in well with our dynamic and the culture of our group. She definitely brings a bit extra in that allrounder category. Obviously, with losing Amelia Kerr, we thought that Nadine would bring some international experience. She's playing some quality international cricket."

Bouncing back from finals loss: "At the end of the day, we measure success, like most teams, on winning titles. There's no doubt about that. We also really value making finals, in a very strong competition. Whilst we want to get the ultimate prize, I think making finals for consistent amount of time, we've done that pretty well and we'll certainly be striving for that again. We're constantly looking to improve and learn and we certainly look to our opposition on how we might do that. But this off-season, we've spent a lot of time talking about how we're gonna get better. It's not to ignore the opposition but at the end of the day, we're really focusing on what we need to do better, how we want to play and how we're going to go about that. We’re certainly aware of our opposition, but we’re not gonna get too consumed about it. We know we're gonna play against good cricketers. It's a great competition. We're really trying to focus our energy doing our stuff really well and getting around each other and playing for us which is our messaging."

New-look squad: "I think the important thing for us is that we fundamentally have a spine of pretty much the same group and I'm real firm believer that we can have success with our homegrown players. I think that's going to be a strength of ours through the tournament. Then we've obviously brought in players where we think we can get the most gain in our skill sets and how we want to play. I don’t think gelling the team together will be a major problem because we're actually together a lot. The majority of our squad are playing cricket together all the time and training together. I think that's the great value of having a lot of locals in your group."

Will Jess Jonassen return to top order?: "Yeah she will. No two ways about it. JJ is a superstar player. I think we all know that she's done that for Australia for many, many years and at the moment, she's not in that team, which that's the way the game rolls. They're a successful side and she's currently not part of it. But what that means for us is that she's with us a lot and we're certainly more than happy to have her. Her form in WNCL so far this season has been exceptional. She will play a significant batting role for us this year and I'm looking forward to seeing that. The last time the Heat actually took out the title, JJ batted up in that top four position."

Young players to watch: "I think we've got some really exciting, talented players and we've seen that through the WNCL with our program here in Queensland. Lucy Hamilton's had a little bit of a taste, but she's still only young, recently playing with Australia in the Under 19s and getting better and better with her left arm pace. She has the ability to be a good lower order batter and she can really field so she's obviously an exciting one for us. Sianna Ginger is another player that's shown a lot for us in WNCL. And I think she's quite suited to the T20 format as well with an allrounder capability and a very good fielder. Grace Parsons, a very talented leg-spinner who's having some success around Australian cricket. Really excited about what dynamic she brings into our spin group so really excited for Grace. There's a lot of very talented young players playing, and I’m really comfortable that they're ready to get an opportunity when and if that arises."

Return to Gabba: "Everyone's so excited about it. To be at the Gabba, it's just that iconic venue for people in Queensland. Our girls are really keen, we all are. We're hoping that we can get a really good crowd in there backing the girls in and get that real Gabba feel. We're getting to play in a lot more main stadiums, we kick off our campaign against the Strikers at the Adelaide Oval. I think it's great that we're getting to play at these venues and so we should be. The girls certainly have earned that right, we’re looking forward to the Gabba game, that should just be a great night."

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