WNCL: Wikman keeps her cool, as ACT take double honours over Victoria

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By Helen Maynard-Casely

Player of the match for the second time this week, Annie Wikman raises her bat as the Victorian team look on. She batted on to score 142 not out.

A hot day, even for a cricket match, spectators came with stocked eskies and grouped together in the smatterings of shade. Frozen zooper doopers were passed round to those less prepared (thanks Mr Flintoff ) as ACT and Victoria met at Phillip Oval for the second match-up in this year’s WNCL. This time Victoria won the toss, and put ACT into bat, seeking a reversal of their fortunes from Tuesday’s game.

A couple of changes to both teams from the game earlier in the week, ACT bringing in Angelina Genford and Shivani Mehta in place of Amy Hunter and Grace Digham, the latter presumably still nursing her hamstring after Tuesday. Victoria swapped out Olivia Henry for fast bowler Zoe Samuel.

Early wickets in the first innings has been the theme of this match up, and within four overs ACT were already three wickets down, two in Ella Hayward’s second over. ACT opener and captain Carly Leeson, who was looking to start to move up the gears in her run scoring, was caught by a leaping Hasrat Gil, while Georgia Elwiss came and went LBW, to be Haywood’s second wicket of the over. Tess Flintoff also started well, backing up on her long bowling performance from Tuesday by bowling opener Olivia Porter.

Then the heat started to bite, and the ACT batters got stuck in. Paris Bowdler and Annie Wikman built a strong 4th Wicket partnership of 92 before Bowdler was stumped off of Molly Strano’s bowling. The Victorian bowlers squeezed the run rate, captain Sophie Molineux and Strano keeping excellent economy through their 10 overs. Hayward picked up three wickets in total off her nine overs, catching Zoe Cooke off her own bowling just as the batter was getting in her stride. Wikman defied the heat, using her reverse sweep to devastating effect – and brought up her first WNCL century in the 44th over. Not out from Tuesday, she accumulated yet more runs at the back of the innings finishing on a humungous 142 not out, guiding ACT to 247 in total. Two days work has netted Wikman 204 runs, catapulting her to 3rd in the individual run table for the season so far.

In reply the Victorian batters started steadily – needing a run rate of just under 5 an over meant that they could look for the opportunities rather than have to dig them out. The plan was going well until towards the end of the powerplay where both openers, Nicole Faltum and Ella Hayward were dismissed in quick succession. Now 2/50, and with two new batters at the crease – the same plan had to be started over. The two left handed Sophie’s (Molineux and Reid) started to steady the ship, but Molineux was caught off Genford’s bowling on the boundary in the 17th over. Though the Victorians at this point in the innings had lost three wickets, they were very much on target with run accumulation, and it was starting to look like they could dig out a win.

Then enter Shivani Mehta. Her second over, the 19th of the innings, marked the turn with a double wicket maiden. First she bowled Reid, before Rhys McKenna wafted at a loopy delivery that caught an edge before finding the keeper’s gloves. Mehta’s next over also saw success, when Sasha Moloney sent the ball back for her to take a low catch. With 6 wickets down, it wasn’t the runs that Victoria were lacking so much, more having too many players back in the sheds. Georgia Prestwidge and Molly Strano were not going to let this daunt them though, and put together a nice partnership that looked to get the Victorians back on track. That was until Wikman, finishing an over for an injured Gabbi Sutcliffe, clean bowled Prestwidge for 24. A stubborn last-ditch batting effort from Molly Strano, who put on her WNCL best total of 60, was very entertaining to watch but ultimately in vain. Her wicket, and Victoria’s 10th fell 48 runs short, when she was caught in the deep by woman of the moment Wikman off Zoe Cooke’s bowling.

ACT Meteors backed up their home-win double over Victoria from last year, and will hope to roll this success forward to when they take on the NSW Breakers in a couple of weeks for the next WNCL round. Victoria will again be licking their wounds, and with a bye for the next round will have time to hatch yet another plan before they travel to Adelaide in early February to meet South Australia.

For those in the UK illustration of what a ‘Zooper Dooper’ is (flavoured ice block). These are such icons in Australia that, in 2019, the Royal Australian Mint released a $1 coin commemorating them.


Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country, and here is writing about a game played on Ngunnawal country. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.

WNCL: A bright start for the Meteors at home in Canberra

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By Helen Maynard-Casely

We’re in the grip of a heat wave here in Australia and while the humidity rises at the coast, the heat never feels quite as oppressive in the drier air of the capital. The cicadas were in full song, clinging to the trees around Phillip Oval to herald Australian Capital Territory Meteors take to the field hosting Victoria in round three of the 2025/26 WNCL season.

This tie was probably the one least affected by losing players to the WPL, with only Meg Lanning and Millie Illingworth missing from the Victorian team sheet. Lanning has had limited impact on the WNCL this season so far, and Illingworth yet to have a run out – hence Victoria were probably very hopeful to break the spell of losses and get match points on the board.

ACT coaches had escaped the complications of those on WPL leave, though strike bowler Holly Ferling remains injured and in a moonboot after surgery. But overall ACT had great grounds to expect a win today, after showing good fight in a narrow loss away to last year’s finalists Queensland in the round before the long break in the season.

Player of the match Annie Wikman leads the successful ACT Meteors team from the side, flanked on the right by captain Carly Leeson.

It is a cliche, but the Meteors really did get off to a bright start to today’s match, with Nicole Fultum getting an inside edge that found the stumps off opening bowler Zoe Cooke first ball. This was followed a few deliveries later with Victorian captain Sophie Molineaux doing sinisterly the same thing. In the third over Cooke managed to trap Sophie Reid LBW, and the Victorian innings was in tatters at 3 down for only 6 runs.

Victoria saw some reprieve from total obliteration via a gritty 9th wicket partnership of 53 by Rhys McKenna and Molly Strano. Mckenna, who went on to put on 62 at a run a ball, looked in solid form – bringing up her 50 with a 6 lofted down the ground. But the team will be smarting that it could have been more – Hasrat Gil was just getting settled when she was run out at the non-striker’s end, courtesy of Anesu Mushangwe getting fingers to the ball sent down the ground by McKenna. Veteran Strano had also looked in good touch, before punting a full toss from Amy Hunter to the waiting mitts of Georgia Elwiss at mid wicket.

The Victorian innings was brought to an end at the beginning of the 37th over – ACT captain Carly Leeson had brought herself in to bowl, and the change up caused McKenna to not angle her shot down enough, allowing Mushangwe to take a low catch at mid-wicket, all out for 161. Cooke and Amy Hunter were the pick of the ACT bowlers, both netting 3 wickets with steely economies.

Low totals, it is said, can be tricky to chase down, and ACT had a few stumbles along the way. A quickfire 50 off 51 balls from Leeson did much to steady the nerves, at times it looked like she was orchestrating the fielding placements more than Sophie Molineaux. As they shuffled the field in response to one Leeson shot, she would then place the next neatly in the hole just left, leaving Victorian fielders scuttling back. Leeson, however, was felled the next ball after achieving the half century – caught off of Tess Flintoff’s pacy full toss. This was the third in a series of wickets, Bowlder and Elwiss departing previously for only 4 runs scored, leaving two new batters (Grace Lyons and Annie Wikman) and still 86 runs to get. But this was only the 15th over, and the ACT batters used this to their advantage. Wikman in particular built a lovely innings, able to sit back and pick out the boundaries when suited her. This culminated in a stylish reverse sweep to the boundary the 34th over to finish off the chase, and left Wikman on 62 not out, rewarded as player of the match.

The Meteors will be very happy with their first home game of the WNCL season, picking up a win and a bonus point to boot. The one concern for Thursday’s match will be Grace Digham who had to retire hurt while supporting Wikman’s batting, she pulled up after stealing a single which looked like a hamstring issue. Victoria still are in negative points after five matches played, will be onto yet another plan to try and fashion a win.

Be Alert! More cricket incoming on Thursday, when the next match of the round takes place.

Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country, and here is writing about a game played on Ngunnawal country. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.

WNCL: The season so far… and what to expect when it restarts on Sunday

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By Helen Maynard-Casely

After a long pause for the 20-over season, the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) – Australia’s professional 50-over competition – restarts on 4 January. Not the quietest period of the cricketing calendar, the upcoming third and fourth rounds will overlap with the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in India, critically drawing away some key players from their state sides. After the amuse bouche of rounds 1 and 2 back in September/October, the majority of the season is still to play. And, while some teams have raced ahead in match points, a few have stumbled and will be keen to get their season back on track.

Standings of the WNCL after two rounds

TeamPlayedWonLossTiedN/RNRRDeductionsBPPoints
Queensland Fire440000.7940218
NSW Breakers440001.0770117
Tasmanian Tigers431001.5280315
South Australia21100-0.494004
ACT Meteors20200-0.802000
Western Australia40400-1.165000
Victoria40400-1.59510-1

After only a few games, it is already looking tight at the top of the table – with teams that have snaffled batting bonuses (from achieving victory with a run rate 1.25 times that of the opposition) at a critical advantage in the chase for the two finals spots. In the bottom half of the table, yes you’ve read that correctly, poor Victoria are actually in negative points after receiving deductions for slow over rates in their match against Tasmania.

Round 3 will see NSW taking their bye for the season, Tasmania will be hosting Queensland at Bellerive, ACT taking on Victoria at EPC Solar Park (Phillip Oval) and West Australia v South Australia at the WACA.

Tasmania v Queensland is likely to be the most important of this round to watch for the overall standings: with more bonus points in the bag from their trip to Victoria, the Tasmanians could jump to the top of the table even with a one win/loss combo. However, they have a frighteningly strong run of form at home in Hobart. Since 2022, Tasmania’s Women have only lost 3 out of 21 matches played at Bellerive. To top this, numbers 1 and 2 on the season run chart are currently held by Tasmanian players Lizelle Lee (323) and Rachel Treneman (241), reflecting the formidability of their batting attack. Queensland, in contrast, will be without gun youngster Charli Knott, who has taken a call up to the WPL, and reliant on Lauren Winfield-Hill to get runs on the board.

After a successful start at home at Karen Rolton Oval back on 26 September, South Australia will be keen to add to wins away at the WACA. They will have a significant boost in having a certain Australian vice-captain Tahlia McGrath back in the side for the next couple of rounds. McGrath has decided to sit out the WPL, presumably with a mind to find form in Australian conditions in advance of the Australia vs India multi-format series coming up in February.

ACT, a team very much in a rebuilding phase, will be keen to go for a win at home against the flailing Victorian side. The Meteors very nearly pulled off quite the surprise win away to Queensland in October’s round 2, only stopped by the indomitable Winfield-Hill’s gutsy century. That said, Victoria are a side with much to make up, having lost the opening four matches – and may hope that some of their contracted Cricket Australia players may be up for taking to the field in Canberra next week to help pull them into the points.

Round 3 WNCL matches

All matches will be streamed via the Cricket Australia app.

DateDayHomeAwayGroundStart (AEDT)Start UTC
04/01SundayTASQLDBellerive Oval, Hobart10:3023:30
06/01TuesdayACTVICEPC Solar Park, Canberra10:0023:00
06/01TuesdayTASQLDBellerive Oval, Hobart10:3023:30
08/01ThursdayACTVICEPC Solar Park, Canberra10:0023:00
08/01ThursdayWASAWACA, Perth17:0006:00
10/01SaturdayWASAWACA, Perth17:0006:00

Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country and acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.

OPINION: England Women Lose Two Year Central Contracts

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I should perhaps begin by stating two things for the record:

  1. I think the central contracts for England women have outlived their usefulness, and should be abolished.
  2. Issuing two year contracts to players coming towards the end of their careers, as the ECB did last year, was difficult to justify.

Nonetheless, the ECB clearly do believe in the central contracts system, and last year they issued seven two year contracts alongside 10 standard one year deals. The accompanying press release included a quote from England Women’s Player Partnership Management Board Member, Emma Reid, who said:

“EWPP and the PCA are really encouraged at the progression of standards within the Women’s Central Contracts, achieved through strong collaboration between the ECB and player representatives. It is positive to see multi-year agreements.“ [Emphasis mine.]

Just a few weeks ago, the ECB effectively restated their commitment to the principle of two year contracts by issuing 14 of them to the men.

So it was something of a surprise when this year’s contracts were announced to see that the two year deals awarded to Amy Jones, Heather Knight etc. have not been extended, and have now de-facto become one year deals again. (The press release is a bit vague, but we’ve had it confirmed that none of the two year deals were “rolled” and everyone’s contract now expires in October 2026.)

So one minute, two year deals are encouraging, positive progress, not to mention being thrown around like confetti for the men; the next they are literally last year’s news.

I’m wondering what has changed… and I’m guessing players like Lauren Bell and Sophie Ecclestone are too!