Queensland are confident that the third time will be the charm as they look to put two consecutive final losses behind them. 

A heart-breaking 21-run loss to arch-rivals NSW in the decider last season came after the Fire had fallen by six wickets to Tasmania, the Tigers’ third-straight crown, the year before. 

However the playing group has largely remained unchanged, with eight of the eleven players from the 2023-24 final loss to Tasmania still on the list.

Queensland v NSW | WNCL Final

And the stability has given Queensland plenty of hope for the new season. It will be former Australia coach Mark Sorell’s second in charge of the group, and he pointed to the unmatched regular season form of the Fire (second on the table in 2023-24 and first in 2024-25) as reason to be bullish ahead of the new campaign.

“You can look at it in a very positive way and say, ‘to continue to make finals suggests that we do play some pretty good cricket’,” Sorell told cricket.com.au.

Queensland squad v WA: Jess Jonassen (c), Lily Bassingthwaighte, Bonnie Berry, Lucy Bourke, Sianna Ginger, Lucy Hamilton, Nicola Hancock, Laura Harris, Charli Knott, Annie O’Neil, Georgia Redmayne, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Mikayla Wrigley

“But there’s no doubt we want to win finals. We want to grab those opportunities and have that success when they next present. We’ve got a high win-loss ratio, probably leading the way in the country.

“(We’ve been looking at) marginal gains. Where are those little spaces that we need to just get a little bit better at, and how do we keep working on them? That’s really been the focus, mate, to keep doing things a little bit better each time.” 

Another source of pride for the Fire is their ability to produce Australian players and it continues to be the number one motivator for the coaching group, says Sorell. Georgia Voll and Grace Harris are the two Queenslanders in the ODI World Cup squad, while Jess Jonassen has a bevy of world titles to her name. Georgia Redmayne and Charli Knott have recently being around the Aussie squad and in coming years the Fire will be expecting to see the likes of Lucy Hamilton, Sianna Ginger and Grace Parsons wearing the green and gold. 

While not contracted, batter Annie O’Neil has recently relocated to Brisbane after being cut by South Australia and is in the Fire squad for the trip west to begin the season. O’Neil played 36 WNCL games for SA across seven seasons, scoring 602 runs. 

2025-26 squad

Lily Bassingthwaighte, Bonnie Berry, Lucinda Bourke, Sianna Ginger, Lilli Hamilton, Lucy Hamilton, Nicola Hancock, Grace Harris*, Laura Harris, Jess Jonassen, Charli Knott, Grace Parsons, Georgia Redmayne, Ruby Strange, Georgia Voll*, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Mikayla Wrigley. Rookie: Lilli Hamilton

 

Ins: Lilli Hamilton, Ruby Strange

 

Outs: Kira Holmes, Courtney Sippel (Tasmania)

 

* Denotes Cricket Australia contract

Last season

Runners-up, lost final to NSW by 21 runs

Possible best XI

For first match (v WA, September 24): Georgia Redmayne (wk), Lucy Bourke, Charli Knott, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Sianna Ginger, Laura Harris, Jess Jonassen (c), Lucy Hamilton, Nicola Hancock, Grace Parsons, Bonnie Berry

Inside word with head coach Mark Sorell
The pre-season

A large portion of Queensland’s senior players have been all over the world in the past couple of months, making for an unusually quiet pre-season for those at home in Brisbane. Jess Jonassen, Grace Harris and Charli Knott took part in the UK’s Hundred competition before Jonassen, Laura Harris and Georgia Redmayne played in the Caribbean Premier League in the West Indies. Knott and Harris joined Australia’s ODI squad in India. This was all after the Harris sisters, Knott and Lauren Winfield-Hill had wonderful individual campaigns in the women’s T20 Blast in England too. Sianna Ginger and Lucy Hamilton took part in Australia A’s multi-format series against India A in August. 

“We’ve had a bit of a slightly different pre-season,” Sorell said. “We’ve had so many girls overseas, either playing for Australia or Australia A or in the different franchise competitions around the world. So group dynamics have been pretty different this pre-season, but it’s been good in a way. (To have) a lot of different people around different parts of the world, to be honest, has been a bit different to manage.”

Availability of Australian players 

With the emergence of Georgia Voll as an all-format player for Australia, the likelihood of her featuring for her state this season appear slim. Following ODI World Cup and the WBBL, Australia host India for a multi-format series in February and March before flying out to the West Indies for another multi-format series (fixtures TBC). 

Grace Harris is in the same boat having recently come back in the ODI set up.

“I think we budget for the fact that we don’t see them, and then when we when we do see them, it’s a real bonus,” Sorell said. “We’re not going to get access to those girls much in the WNCL … one of our big things in life is to contribute to producing Australian players. So we really value that when those girls get picked and recognised, we think it’s great.” 

Charli Knott, who has been travelling India with the ODI squad, will fly straight to Perth and be available for the opening match of the season against Western Australia. 

Knott’s maiden century powers Fire to big total

Injury update

“We’re going pretty good, touch wood,” Sorell said. “We had a pretty clear plan in place at the start of the pre-season about managing our players through and managing loads. That’s a credit to our physical team and our medical team to be able to have full quota to pick from really, which is really nice.”

Georgia Redmayne’s new opening partner 

Wicketkeeper, leader and star opening batter, Georgia Redmayne is of course a lock at the top of Queensland’s order. She piled on another 546 runs last season which included 97 in the final, an innings that was excruciatingly ended with a cruel run out at the non-striker’s end.

Non-striker Redmayne brutally run out on 97 in WNCL final

With Georgia Voll entrenched in the national set up, Redmayne needs an opening partner. The experienced Lauren Winfield-Hill filled in at various times last season but it was rookie batter Lucinda Bourke who got the nod in the season decider, scoring five off six balls. 

And coach Sorell sees the 20-year-old right hander as a long-term option at the top of the order. 

“‘Bourkey’ has continued to grow, so we’re we’re really excited about Lucy,” Sorell said. “She obviously got a big elevation in the final and got some exposure, but she’s been working hard in the off-season. She had a very good T20 Max competition up here and was in the top three run scorers (so) she’s continued to grow. We think she’s definitely a player that we see in that spot moving forward.

“She’s really improved. She’s also experimenting with some off-spin bowling nowadays too that might become a handy little asset.” 

Pace spot vacated by Courtney Sippel

Courtney Sippel leaves Queensland for Tasmania after 64 wickets in 46 games for the Fire, leaving a spot in the first XI for an up-and-coming quick to take her place. 

There are a few putting their hand up too, with Lily Bassingthwaighte and Bonnie Berry fit and bowling well, while the squad’s two inclusions Lilli Hamilton and Ruby Strange will both be around the mark too. 

“It’s pretty exciting when you look at the group of young, faster bowlers we’ve got around the group,” Sorell said. 

“Lily Bassingthwaighte is an Under-19 Australian player that’s been in our system and played last year. Bonnie Berry is a girl that suffered some injuries last year, but she’s now fully fit. (She bowls a) heavy length and an out-swinger traditionally. We love her simplicity.

“Although Lilli Hamilton, it’ll be a bit different for her potentially. She’s just finishing year 12, so there’s lots of different things that she’s doing in her world there.

Who’s been training the house down?

“Sianna Ginger always leads the way in that space,” Sorell said. “She’s an extremely professional, driven type of player. (The) hundred in the Aussie A (match) doesn’t surprise us, but it’s obviously still very pleasing to see her to do that.” 

Ginger leads the way for Aus A with brilliant ton

Full schedule

September 24 v Western Australia, WACA Ground
September 26 v Western Australia, WACA Ground
October 12 v ACT, Allan Border Field
October 14 v ACT, Allan Border Field
January 4 v Tasmania, Bellerive Oval 
January 6 v Tasmania, Bellerive Oval 
January 20 v South Australia, Allan Border Field
January 22 v South Australia, Allan Border Field
February 3 v NSW, Cricket Central
February 5 v NSW, Cricket Central
March 12 v Victoria, Allan Border Field
March 14 v Victoria, Allan Border Field