All you need to know for the WNCL final

Match facts

Who: Queensland v New South Wales

What: 2024-25 Women’s National Cricket League Final

When: Sunday March 2. Coin toss at 1.50pm AEDT/12.50pm AEST, first ball at 2.35pm AEDT/1.35pm AEST

Where: Allan Border Field, Brisbane

How to watch: Stream live and free via the CA Live app and cricket.com.au or watch via Kayo Sports

Officials: Mike Graham-Smith and Gerard Abood (standing), Ben Treloar (third), Kepler Wessels (match referee)

Live scores: Match Centre

Attending the game: Entry to the WNCL final is via an optional gold coin donation with proceeds going to support Queensland Cricket's Women & Girls' Initiatives.

Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au, the CA Live app

Squads

Queensland squad: Georgia Redmayne (c), Charli Knott (vc), Lily Bassingthwaighte, Lucinda Bourke, Sianna Ginger, Lilli Hamilton, Lucy Hamilton, Nicola Hancock, Laura Harris, Grace Parsons, Courtney Sippel, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Mikayla Wrigley

Georgia Voll will miss the WNCL final after she was signed by UP Warriorz in India's Women’s Indian Premier League as a replacement player.

She flew out of Brisbane on Friday, where she will link up with Fire and Warriorz teammate Grace Harris.

Experienced English batter Lauren Winfield-Hill is likely to fill Voll’s spot at the top of the order, with captain Georgia Redmayne, Laura Harris and Nicola Hancock adding to an experienced core of the squad.

New South Wales squad: Georgia Adams (c), Sam Bates, Maitlan Brown, Lauren Cheatle (vc), Sarah Coyte, Hannah Darlington, Elsa Hunter, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Anika Learoyd, Claire Moore, Frankie Nicklin, Kate Pelle, Tahlia Wilson

The NSW squad sees just one change to the group that defeated the ACT Meteors twice last week to force their way into the decider, with Lauren Kua replaced by wicketkeeper-batter Kate Pelle.

Caoimhe Bray was unavailable for selection after being diagnosed with a stress fracture in her back that will require some time on the sidelines. Veterans Erin Burns and Alyssa Healy were also unavailable, with the former expecting her second child with wife Anna, and the latter on the sidelines with a foot injury. Ashleigh Gardner and Phoebe Litchfield are playing in the WPL.

What’s on the line

The Ruth Preddy Cup is on the line. The trophy was introduced in the 1972-73 season and acknowledges one of the pioneers of the game in Preddy, a former NSW player and administrator, Australia team manager and sports editor of The Australian Women's Weekly.

Since the WNCL replaced the Australian Women's Cricket Championships in 1996-97, the NSW Breakers have dominated the competition by winning a remarkable 20 titles.

However, that run of dominance came to an end in 2019-20, when NSW were defeated by WA in the decider. Up to that point, they had featured in every WNCL final – and until now, had not featured in a final since.

Queensland meanwhile are hunting their second WNCL title, having last won it in 2020-21. The Fire made the final last summer, but could not prevent Tasmania winning it for a third consecutive season. But with the Tigers finishing outside the top two this time around, ‘Ruth’ will be headed to a new home come Sunday.

Form guide

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, T: tie 

Queensland:  LWWWWLWWWW

Queensland lost their first two matches of the season to NSW, but have been a force to be reckoned with since, winning eight of their last 10 matches.

Their most recent outing was a six-wicket loss to Victoria, however, and they had the bye in the final round of the home-and-away system, meaning they will go into Sunday’s final having not played a match since February 9.

New South Wales:  WWLWLWWWLL

New South Wales were 2-2 going into the WBBL break but have been excellent since the resumption, winning six games and dropping just two.

With their spot in the final on the line across the final two rounds, they split their matches against fellow finals contender South Australia, before winning both their games against ACT Meteors to secure second spot on the table.

Last time they met

The Breakers will take confidence from their early season success against the Fire, which saw them take back-to-back wins at Allan Border Field.

In the first of those games, Lauen Winfield-Hill top-scored as Queensland posted 9-266 from their 50 overs, with Sammy-Jo Johnson bagging 4-44 for the Breakers.

NSW reeled in that target with two overs to spare – Georgia Adams (63) and Tahlia Wilson (48) gave them a solid start, but three wickets to Sianna Ginger left them wobbly at 6-177.

In the end, an unbeaten 90-run stand between No.7 Maitlan Brown (40no) and No.8 Johnson (46) got the Breakers home.

In the second, Sarah Coyte took 3-37 as Queensland were bowled out for 216 – and 89 of those runs came off the bat off Fire captain Jess Jonassen.

It was by no means a straightforward chase for the Breakers, who lost eight wickets before reaching their target in 46.3 overs.

Tahlia Wilson and Anika Learoyd laid the foundation for the chase, scoring 97 and 44 respectively. Queensland fought back thanks to leg-spinner Grace Parsons (438) and NSW lost 5-13, but the tail got them over the line.

Players to watch

For Queensland, Georgia Redmayne is hoping to lift the Ruth Preddy Cup for a second since as she fills the shoes of absent skipper Jess Jonassen. She has again been prolific with the bat at the top of the order, hitting 449 runs at 40.

Allrounder Charli Knott has been the breakout story of the season for the Fire. She is the league’s fourth-highest run scorer, having hit 542 at 49.36 including her first WNCL century. With the ball, she has picked up 12 wickets – and with Jonassen away at the WPL, her spin-bowling will be all the more important for Queensland in the decider.

As ever, Laura Harris will bring the fireworks for Queensland, with her middle-order hitting abilities capable of breaking a game open.

Tahlia Wilson has enjoyed a superb seasons with the bat at the top of the order and behind the stumps for NSW. The 25-year-old sits atop the league runs table with 667 at 60.63, including two centuries and two fifties, and has continued to press her case for higher honours.

She comes into the final fresh off a century against ACT Meteors, while she will be well supported by No.3 Anika Learoyd, who has enjoyed a breakout season of her own. Learoyd is fifth on the runs table with 497 at 45.18, and after starting the season batting at No.6 has firmly cemented herself at first drop.  

With ball in hand, the comeback story of Sam Bates, who sits into the top 10 on the wickets table with 17 at 25, has been a joy to watch this season. The left-arm spinner parted ways with Victoria at the end of last summer and moved home to Newcastle without a state contract. She was invited to train with the Breakers during the winter and after making a long-awaited debut for her state of berth in September, has ended up playing every game this season.

Rapid stats

• New South Wales have won their last two WNCL games against the Queensland Fire after winning only one of their previous six encounters; the last time they won more than two in a row against Queensland was a three-game streak from February 2019 to January 2002.
  
  
• New South Wales have won each of their last three WNCL games against Queensland at Allan Border Field and haven’t lost to the Fire in Queensland since a one-wicket defeat in September 2018.
  
  
• The Fire will be looking to win the WNCL trophy for the first time since 2020-21 and just the second time ever, while New South Wales will be looking to break a championship drought stretching back to their 2018-19 title.
  
  
• New South Wales have won each of their three finals games against Queensland since the finals format moved to a single match in 2007, including a 31-run win in 2018-19.
  
  
• Queensland have won three of their last four WNCL games at Allan Border Field, while New South Wales have won six of their last seven games outside NSW, but were defeated at the hands of Western Australia in their last such fixture in January.
  
  
• Queensland have scored 25.5% of their runs straight down the ground this season (through mid-on and mid-off), the highest rate of any team in the competition; they have also scored the most runs per dismissal (37.2) and at the highest strike rate (88.9) of any team via these shots.
  
  
• New South Wales have dropped just six catches across their last seven WNCL games and have a season catch success rate of 82% from 72 attempts, the second highest of any team behind Victoria (83.6%). Only Western Australia (71.1%) have a lower catch success rate than Queensland (75.6%).
  
  
• Georgia Adams (NSW) has made a good connection on 89.4% of her 47 balls faced during the Powerplay this WNCL season, the highest of any player in the competition. Adams scored 63 runs in a game against Queensland in September.
  
  
• Charli Knott (Queensland) has scored 542 runs and taken 12 wickets this season, making her the only player to score 500+ runs and log 10+ wickets; however she has not scored 20+ runs or taken a wicket in any of her last three matches against NSW.
  
  
• Tahlia Wilson (NSW) is the top run scorer this season with 667 runs and has scored 25% of all of NSW’s runs, the most of any player in the competition (min. five innings). She had scored two centuries across her last four innings and hit 48 and 97 against Queensland at the start of the season.

WNCL 2024-25  

Final: Queensland v New South Wales | Allan Border Field | Sunday, March 2 at 2.35pm AEDT (1.35pm AED)

Stream live and free via the CA Live app and cricket.com.au or watch via Kayo Sports