ACT Meteors | NSW | Queensland | South Australia | Tasmania | Victoria | Western Australia
ACT Meteors
The Meteors have welcomed four new players from last season, as they seek to improve on a disappointing 2023-24 campaign that saw them finish on the bottom of the table with one win from 12 matches.
One of those is a familiar face, with Canberra born-and-bred allrounder Zoe Cooke returning home after spending last summer with Queensland.
Also joining the Meteors squad is former Zimbabwe leg-spinner Anesu Mushangwe, who has made the move across to Canberra after several seasons spent with South Australia.
Top-order batter and allrounder Shivani Mehta is making the move down from Sydney, where she was one of the leading performers in Sydney Premier Cricket with Manly-Waringah, while leg-spinner Chelsea Moscript has been awarded a full contract after making her WNCL debut last season and playing four games.
Head coach: Erin Osborne
Squad: Alisha Bates, Paris Bowdler, Zoe Cooke, Grace Dignam, Holly Ferling, Angie Genford, Amy Hunter, Carly Leeson, Grace Lyons, Katie Mack (c), Shivani Mehta, Chelsea Moscript, Anesu Mushangwe, Olivia Porter, Gabrielle Sutcliffe, Annie Wikman
Ins: Zoe Cooke (Queensland), Anesu Mushangwe (South Australia), Shivani Mehta, Chelsea Moscript (upgrade)
Outs: Kayla Burton, Rebecca Carter, Chloe Rafferty, Jannatul Sumona (all delisted)
New South Wales
New South Wales have invested in youth to try and climb back to the top of women’s domestic cricket with a trio of rising teenagers earning their maiden state contracts.
Sienna Eve, Elsa Hunter and Lauren Kua, all 19, and 18-year-old Kate Pelle have joined a squad that finished fifth in the WNCL last season.
Pelle was Australia’s second top run-scorer at last year’s women’s Under-19 World Cup in South Africa, while she also made her Breakers and Sydney Sixers debuts last summer, playing all 14 Weber WBBL|09 matches after first-choice wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy injured her hand.
Left-arm finger spinner Eve also represented Australia at under-19 level alongside Pelle in a tri-series in Sri Lanka earlier this year, collecting 3-10 against England in the second match.
Top-order batter Hunter has been playing internationally for Malaysia (668 runs at 23.03 in 40 T20Is) since making her debut as a 13-year-old in 2019, while Kua – who was also born in Malaysia – was the leading run-scorer in NSW Premier Cricket’s top grade last season.
Scotland international Horley was granted a release from the final year of her contract to make a permanent move to the UK.
Head coach: Gavan Twining
Squad: Jade Allen, Maitlan Brown, Erin Burns, Stella Campbell, Lauren Cheatle, Sarah Coyte, Hannah Darlington, Sienna Eve, Ashleigh Gardner*, Alyssa Healy*, Ebony Hoskin, Elsa Hunter, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Lauren Kua, Anika Learoyd, Phoebe Litchfield*, Claire Moore, Kate Pelle, Tahlia Wilson
Ins: Sienna Eve, Elsa Hunter, Lauren Kua, Kate Pelle
Outs: Georgia Adams, Saskia Horley, Isa Malgioglio
* Denotes Cricket Australia contract
Queensland
England batter Lauren Winfield-Hill headlines a quartet of fresh faces on the Queensland Fire contract list for 2024-25.
Winfield-Hill turned out for the Fire in the second half of last season after playing in the Weber WBBL with Perth, and helped the side to the WNCL final, won by Tasmania in Hobart.
The wife of former Queensland and Brisbane Heat pace bowler and Heat assistant coach Courtney Winfield-Hill, the 33-year-old boasts 104 England caps and will add considerable experience to a Queensland line-up that will again be led by multiple World Cup winner Jess Jonassen.
Wrigley, 20, earns her inaugural Fire contract after a string of consistent performances across a range of competitions and teams over the past two seasons.
Bourke, 18, is a Warwick product who had a top score of 107 during the season in the Katherine Raymont Shield for premiers Valley and played Queensland Under-19s.
Bassingthwaighte, 17, is a Year 11 student at All Hallows and represented Queensland Under-19s last season.
Mark Sorell has taken the coaching reins after the departure of Ashley Noffke, who has taken on a new head coaching role in New Zealand.
Head coach: Mark Sorell
Squad: Lily Bassingthwaighte, Bonnie Berry, Lucinda Burke, Sianna Ginger, Lucy Hamilton, Nicola Hancock, Grace Harris*, Laura Harris, Kira Holmes, Jess Jonassen*, Charli Knott, Grace Parsons, Georgia Redmayne, Courtney Sippel, Georgia Voll, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Mikayla Wrigley
Ins: Lily Bassingthwaighte, Lucinda Bourke, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Mikayla Wrigley
Outs: Zoe Cooke (ACT), Mikayla Hinkley (Western Australia), Ruth Johnston (Tasmania), Ellie Johnston
* Denotes Cricket Australia contract
South Australia
Local fast bowler Emmerson Filsell has earned her first state contract after impressing in both SACA Premier Cricket and at underage National Championships, while South Australia will have an international recruit for the upcoming season, with English allrounder Hollie Armitage signing as an overseas player.
Armitage, who has previously played for Tasmania and the Sydney Sixers, brings international experience to SA with her, having made her debut for England in a T20I in March this year.
The majority of the South Australian squad has remained the same, with Cricket Australia contracted players Darcie Brown, Tahlia McGrath and Megan Schutt staying on the list.
Mick Delaney has replaced former coach Luke Williams.
Head coach: Mick Delaney
Squad: Hollie Armitage, Jemma Barsby, Darcie Brown*, Emma de Broughe, Josie Dooley, Emmerson Filsell, Paris Hall, Eleanor Larosa, Tahlia McGrath*, Courtney Neale, Annie O’Neil, Bridget Patterson, Maddie Penna, Kate Peterson, Megan Schutt*, Courtney Webb, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Ella Wilson
Ins: Hollie Armitage, Emmerson Filsell
Outs: Anesu Mushangwe (ACT), Sam Betts
*Denotes Cricket Australia contract
Tasmania
The reigning three-time champions have kept a settled squad as they set their sights on a fourth consecutive title.
Coming into the fold is former Queensland player Ruth Johnston, who will be familiar to Tasmania fans having featured for the Hobart Hurricanes for the past three WBBL seasons.
Departing the Tigers is former captain Sasha Moloney, who has signed with Victoria after a 13-year Tasmanian career, while Clare Scott was not offered a contract after making her debut in the 2021-22 season.
Head coach: Jude Coleman
Squad: Nicola Carey, Julia Cavanough, Maisy Gibson, Heather Graham*, Ruth Johnston, Lizelle Lee, Emma Manix-Geeves, Tabatha Saville, Hayley Silver-Holmes, Amy Smith, Lauren Smith, Naomi Stalenberg, Molly Strano, Rachel Trenaman, Elyse Villani, Callie Wilson.
Ins: Ruth Johnston (Queensland)
Outs: Sasha Moloney (Victoria), Clare Scott
* Denotes Cricket Australia contract
Victoria
Headlined by six Australian contracted players, the majority of last year’s squad has been retained, with the experienced Sasha Moloney and rising star Hasrat Gill the two new additions.
Allrounder Moloney has made the move from Tasmania after representing the Melbourne Stars in the past two seasons in the WBBL.
Gill has earned her first state contract after an outstanding 2023-24 campaign for the Melbourne Cricket Club, which led to the rising star being included in the Australian Under-19’s tri-series tour against Sri Lanka in April.
Following her retirement from international cricket, Meg Lanning returns to the Victorian contract list, while Sophie Molineux has been elevated to a Cricket Australia contract.
Head coach: Andrew Christie
Squad: Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum, Tess Flintoff, Poppy Gardner, Kim Garth*, Hasrat Gill, Ella Hayward, Olivia Henry, Milly Illingworth, Meg Lanning, Rhys McKenna, Sophie Molineux*, Sasha Moloney, Jasmine Nevins, Ellyse Perry*, Georgia Prestwidge, Sophie Reid, Annabel Sutherland*, Tayla Vlaeminck*, Georgia Wareham*
Ins: Hasrat Gill, Sasha Moloney (Tasmania)
Outs: Rhiann O’Donnell, Samantha Bates
* Denotes Cricket Australia contract
Western Australia
Western Australia have added a trio of new faces to their squad as they look to build on their fourth-placed finish last summer.
Mikayla Hinkley joins from Queensland, where the talented 25-year-old middle-order batter played 45 WNCL matches over five seasons.
WA allrounder Bhavi Devchand returns to the state program for the first time since 2018-19, following a career-best season for Wanneroo in Premier Cricket.
A classy top-order batter and capable spin-bowling option, Devchand’s performances earned her a maiden Karen Read Medal as the dominant player in the Female A Grade competition, after compiling 664 runs at 36.88 and 11 wickets across all formats.
Teenage leg-spinner Shay Manolini has earned a state contract for the first time after making her WNCL debut against Victoria last summer.
Head coach: Becky Grundy
Squad: Chloe Ainsworth, Charis Bekker, Zoe Britcliffe, Mathilda Carmichael, Piepa Cleary, Maddy Darke, Bhavi Devchand, Amy Edgar, Lisa Griffith, Mikayla Hinkley, Alana King*, Shay Manolini, Lilly Mills, Beth Mooney*, Taneale Peschel, Chloe Piparo
Ins: Bhavi Devchand, Mikayla Hinkley (Queensland), Shay Manolini
Outs: Ashley Day, Georgia Wyllie, and Poppy Stockwell (all delisted)
* Denotes Cricket Australia contract
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