Skipper Redmayne's century takes Queensland Fire to maiden WNCL triumph

Georgia Redmayne magnificent century and all-round bowling performance helped Queensland Fire thump Victoria by 112 runs in the final to win their first ever Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) title at the Junctional Oval in Melbourne on Saturday (March 27).



Put into bat by the hosts, Queensland got off to a good start with skipper Redmayne and Georgia Voll adding 67 runs for the opening wicket in just 11.4 overs. Voll was the aggressive among the two as she scored 34 off 39 before being dismissed of the bowling off Tess Flintoff.



Post Voll’s dismissal Queensland lost Charli Knott and Grace Harris with the score reading 119 for 3 in 22.4 overs. Left-handed Redmayne started slowly, hitting her first boundary through fine-leg off Kim Garth in the fifth over. She scored her fifty from 79 balls with a boundary off Ella Hayward past square-leg.



In the company of Mikayla Hinkley, Redmayne put on 111 runs from 98 balls for the fourth wicket to take the score to 230 for 4 in 39 overs. Hinkley played an aggressive knock scoring her second WNCL fifty from 51 balls with a boundary against Garth in her sixth over, but was dismissed by the former Ireland international for 53 in the same over.



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Meanwhile, at the other end, Redmayne was opening up as she hit four boundaries in six deliveries to go from 63 off 101 to 81 off 107. Garth struck again for Victoria in her next over sending the big-hitting Laura Kimmince back for just three. Al though Queensland lost Ellie Johnston in Hayward’s final over, Redmayne continued to play her shots and brought up her century 131 balls when she hit Flintoff through thirdman for four.



Meagan Dixon and Redmayne added 44 from 25 balls with Dixon smashing Courtney Neale for three boundaries before launching Flintoff over long-off for a six. Redmayne added five more boundaries to her tally post hundred even as Dixon became Garth’s third victim for 23 off just 12 deliveries. Redmayne remained not out on 134 from 146 balls as Queensland finished on 317 for 8 from their fifty overs.



For Victoria, Garth was the most successful bowler with figures of 3 for 45, while Hayward took two wickets.



In reply, Victoria lost Bhavisha Devchand early when she was caught by Knott off Courtney Sippel for five. Skipper Elyse Villani and Annabel Sutherland added 55 for the second wicket, but the required run rate kept climbing as Villani took her time and was eventually dismissed by Lilly Mills for a 45-ball 18. They soon lost Sutherland with the score reading 73 when she became Harris’ first victim in the 21^st over.







Even as Garth tried to get the innings moving from one end, Harris stuck again at the to remove Anna Lanning and Lucy Cripps in consecutive overs to leave Victoria reeling at 105 for 5. Wicket-keeper Nicole Faltum played a quickfire 25 off 22, but was dismissed by Sippel before Mills ended Garth’s impressive knock for 48. From there it was too steep a climb for Victoria’s lower-order and Mills, Harris and Sippel added one more wicket each to their tally to take Queensland to their first ever WNCL title in its history.



For Queensland, Harris was the most successful bowler with figures of 4 for 35, while Sippel and Mills took three wicket each.



Brief Scores: Queensland Fire 317/8 in 50 overs (Georgia Redmayne 134*, Mikayla Hinkley 53; Kim Garth 3/45) beat Victoria 205/10 in 42.4 overs (Kim Garth 48, Annabel Sutherland 42; Grace Harris 4/35, Lilly Mills 3/36) by 112 runs. POTM: Georgia Redmayne, POTS: Elyse Villani