An international recall was never front of mind for Nicola Carey, but after her outstanding domestic form saw her named in Australia’s white-ball squads to meet India, she returns with new strings added to her bow.
Carey was on Thursday unveiled as the 2026 Women’s Domestic Player of the Year, rewarded for her outstanding performances for Tasmania and Hobart Hurricanes that also propelled her back into the Australian set-up.
Caoimhe Bray has meanwhile been named the 2026 Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year, while Josie Dooley has been honoured with the Community Impact Award.
Carey, 32, had turned down a Cricket Australia contract in 2023, preferring to devote herself full-time to playing every game possible for Tasmania rather than spending long periods on the road mostly carrying drinks.
Speaking to cricket.com.au this week, Carey explained it was never a move made with an eventual recall in mind, rather, she simply wanted to get the most out of herself as a cricketer and contribute to success for Tasmania.
However, when the call came last month from national selector Shawn Flegler sounding out her interest in returning to international cricket, the answer was ‘yes’.
“At the end of the day, (turning down the contract) was honestly just about playing more games at cricket and I thought that was the best way to go about it,” Carey said this week.
“I was really happy just doing what I was doing in domestic cricket and that took the pressure off as well – I didn’t have any expectations, or set any huge lofty goals of trying to get here or get there through playing good cricket, I just wanted to get back and play more cricket and see where that got me within the domestic competitions that I was playing.
“It meant that I could settle into cricket in Tasmania, and have pre-seasons here and really invest in the program and be around the group full-time and play every game of cricket that I was available for.
“That’s the biggest thing. You spend so much time in the nets working on things, but the biggest learnings happen out on the field and I think that’s what’s really helped me.”
Carey was voted by her peers as top domestic player after dominating all three domestic competitions with bat and ball.
In 12 Women’s National Cricket League matches across the voting period – running from December 11, 2024 to December 13, 2025 – Carey scored 338 runs at an average of 30.73 which included a sensational century against Queensland, while with the ball she was just as damaging, taking 17 wickets at an average of 25.24.
In five T20 Spring Challenge games, Carey starred with the bat as she made 191 runs at an average of 47.75 and with the ball, took three wickets at an average of 34.67.
That scintillating form continued into Weber WBBL|11, where Carey made 186 runs at an average of 46.50, and took 10 wickets at an average of 25.60 as the Hurricanes claimed their first title.
But above the pure numbers what was most impressive was the evolution of Carey’s all-round game, with her strike rate of 125 in WBBL|11 a significant leap from the 102.59 she had scored her runs at in the 10 seasons prior.
Even more significant has been her development into a new-ball bowler in the WNCL and WBBL, having spent her career to that point specialising in the middle-to-death overs – and Carey revealed it had been a happy accident.
It means the allrounder will return to the Australian set-up a more three-dimensional player, capable of bowling in any phase if required, while packing a punch in a strong batting line-up.
“(Opening the bowling) is not something I’ve done a huge amount of, and I think I fell into that last season, more so in the WNCL space,” Carey said.
“I was filling in the role for someone who wasn’t available … and I really enjoyed it.
“I’d always been in teams where we’ve had the opening bowlers all covered. It was surprisingly quite enjoyable and it led into the Big Bash this year, taking the new ball there.
“I still do the middle overs and a bit of the death stuff as well.
“With the bat, I’ve probably just become a little bit clearer about what works for me and how I can go about taking on T20 cricket, (I’ve had) probably more of a focus in that space and on finding role for me playing for the Hurricanes.
“They’ve been really good to me in that space, I’ve had a lot of really good conversations around what is my best role in that team … I’ve put a fair bit of work into that over the last couple of years. I’ve been fortunate enough to play in a really good team.”
Bray storms to Betty Wilson gong
Ahead of the Belinda Clark Award being presented ahead of Sunday’s opening T20I against India, New South Wales and Sydney Sixers young gun Bray has also been named the 2026 Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year.
In taking out the award, 16-year-old Bray joins a roll call of players bestowed the honour before they turned 25 that went on to shine at international level, including the likes of inaugural winner and recently named Australia captain Sophie Molineux (2017), Georgia Wareham (2019) and Darcie Brown (2022).
One of Australia’s most exciting prospects, Bray took eight wickets at an average of 21.75 for the Sixers in Weber WBBL|11, with a standout performance against the Sydney Thunder, where she took a hat-trick on her way to figures of 4-15 off four overs.
Unfortunately, her season was cut short when she suffered a re-emergence of a stress fracture in her back, ending her 2025-26 season.
Bray made eight appearances in the WNCL during the voting period, scoring 71 runs at an average of 23.67, and taking eight wickets at an average of 25.38.
In the T20 Spring Challenge, she made 61 runs, while she took three wickets at an average of 25.0 in her four matches for the Sixers.
To be eligible for the Young Cricketer of the Year Award, players must be 24 years or less prior to the commencement of the award period and have not won the award previously. Prior to the award period, female players must also have played 25 or less combined List A and T20 matches (domestic or international).
“It’s a really big privilege knowing all the past names that have been selected for the award and knowing where most of them are at now – playing for Australia and playing in all different overseas tournaments – it’s a pretty incredible achievement,” Bray said in a statement.
“It’s even more significant in that sense because it’s not voted by coaches or other staff, it’s by your peers who you play with and against, and they’re really recognising your achievements, so, that’s really awesome to know that the people around me support me and hopefully see a future in what I can do.”
Dooley meanwhile has been voted the winner of the Community Impact Award, which is given to a player who has gone above and beyond in charity or community work throughout the award period.
Dooley has had a significant impact on the community by raising awareness for stroke recovery through her Wave2Recovery account which documents her own journey.
In her role as ambassador, Dooley helped the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) Appeal raise over $50k, while she also raised funds for the Stroke Foundation by participating in the Bridge to Brisbane 5km walk.
“I definitely feel honoured,” Dooley said in a statement.
“Raising money for the Stroke Foundation in the walk that we did, and then for the RBWH Foundation – I’m an ambassador for them – so shining a light on all the work that they do is obviously really close to me personally.
“The whole cricket community has been incredible in supporting me and getting me through some pretty dark times.
“I’m very grateful to everyone and all my teammates who were always there for me and are still checking on me now. I still feel very much a part of the game, and I’m just very grateful for all of them.”
NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series
Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shreyanka Patil
February 15: First T20, SCG, 7:15pm AEDT
February 19: Second T20, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT
February 21: Third T20, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT
Australia ODI squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol
February 24: First ODI, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT
February 27: Second ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
March 1: Third ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare
March 6-9: Test match, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)
