Junior on top: Villani extends legacy with WNCL record

Elyse Villani, who broke the record for most WNCL appearances last week, wouldn’t have been around for a 19th season in the competition if it wasn’t for her move to Tasmania five years ago.

The Tigers captain played her 146th game in the women’s 50-over competition last Friday when her side hosted the ACT Meteors at the Bellerive Oval, overtaking former Australian allrounder Lisa Sthalekar’s mark of 145.

Tasmania is the third side Villani has represented, having turned out 74 times in 10 seasons across two stints for her native Victoria, with a 17-match run of three seasons with Western Australia sandwiched in between.

If the 36-year-old was to play another season – a decision she is yet to take – she will also have the chance to claim the record of the leading run-scorer in the tournament history, currently sitting 266 behind Karen Rolton (5,521) with her tally of 5,255.

Speaking following her milestone game, Villani said she was privileged to have had a long run playing in the WNCL.

“I think probably it was a deliberate ploy by people not to let me know that it was coming, because I did sort of take it for a bit of a ride on that second game,” she said.

“The staff and the players were beautiful in the way that they helped celebrate that milestone.

“There were some photos in the change room, and I was calling it my shrine and made the girls, each time they came into the change room and left the change room, to pay tribute to the shrine.

“I made them all wear a floppy hat and basically made the day about me (laughs).

“Nic (Carey) made a really nice speech after the game and said that for most of my career, she feels like I’ve been quite modest, except for that day where I certainly did slap the mayo on.”

A day of looking back at what she has accomplished and soaking in all the plaudits is well-earned by the stalwart of the domestic circuit.

Villani fell just one short of 100 international caps, playing her last game for Australia in 2019 as the side adopted a preference for allrounders under the captain-coach pairing of Meg Lanning and Matthew Mott.

The initial few seasons after the sacking from the national side were played with the determination to make a case for a callback and Villani left no stone unturned.

She topped the runs chart in 2020-21 – her final season in the Victorian navy blue – and won the award for Australia’s top domestic women’s player in 2021, 2022 and 2024, the final one of those shared with Sophie Day.

But while she didn’t get to don the Australian kit again as a crop of youngsters established their place in the side, Villani turned her focus to leadership, especially after her switch to Tasmania in 2021.

“I think sometimes as an athlete, you can get pretty self-centred, and you can live in a little bit of a bubble where it’s about your own individual performances, or you’re always sort of pushing for more,” she said. “But down here in Tasmania, I felt a part of something bigger.

“I’ve felt like I’ve been able to be a part of something in terms of more than the results – the culture, building belief, helping to grow the game here and inspire the next generation.

“Then you see someone like (15-year-old) Mia Barwick take the field, and sort of seeing those things come to fruition has been really exciting.

“Captaining these last five seasons has given me a real purpose to my cricket, and something that’s definitely helped prolong it.”

While the interstate move wasn’t motivated by cricketing reasons but personal ones, made to join her partner in Hobart, it ended up adding another dimension as well as years to Villani’s playing career.

She was not hesitant to admit that she wouldn’t have been playing for this long if she had stayed back in her home state, Victoria.

“When you grow up somewhere as a kid, they see you as that kid, even though you’re, all of a sudden, 20 years older,” said the veteran who is still known by her nickname from her early cricketing days – ‘Junior’.

“I think if you’re in an environment too long, it can become pretty stale.”

The Tasmanian chapter of Villani’s career has not been short on success, and her signing has paid rich dividends for the Tigers side.

The impact was immediate as Villani’s domestic title drought – as well as that of Tasmania – ended in her very first season with the team. She then led them to the championship in the next two seasons to complete a hattrick of titles for the Tigers.

When the missing WBBL crown was also added to the collection this season, she announced her retirement from the shortest-format right after leading the Hobart Hurricanes to the podium.

The response her surprise announcement received from her teammates and the wider cricketing community was telling of the respect she has come to enjoy in the game.

But the sense of gratitude for being able to turn cricket into a profession keeps Villani’s child-like enthusiasm towards the game intact after all these years.

“The way that I view myself is just someone who loves playing cricket, who loves being a part of a team,” she said, “and someone who just enjoys it and plays because once upon a time, there was this little girl playing in the backyard with her three older brothers, dreaming of representing her state and getting to play cricket.”

While she has called time on her WBBL career, Villani is yet to decide whether the current season will be her last in the WNCL.

She has another year on her contract with Tasmania and she feels good enough to keep going.

“I think skill wise, I’m still able to perform at this level,” Villani said. “But there’s certainly more to cricket than that.

“It’s taking it all into consideration – where I’m at from a life perspective, what’s happening outside of cricket?”

Villani conceded her side’s poor run in the second leg of the season, where they have lost six games in a row, will now inevitably have a bearing on her decision.

The Tigers have been without key names in Carey and Lizelle Lee – who were both participating in the WPL in India – since the return from the WBBL break.

A string of injuries, including to Villani herself, has only made matters worse, not allowing the team to field a consistent side.

But the captain refused to put the entire blame on the uncontrollables, admitting the side has underperformed.

“It’s exciting when people get picked up in the WPL,” she said. “I think that’s a huge testament to the hard work they’ve put in, but also the program as well.”

“It can be difficult for the team, but it never just comes down to one or two things.

“We speak about having a really great squad, like a lot of depth in our squad, and it’s been tested this season, which I think is exciting.

“But at the same time the people, the XI, that gets picked every single week are more than capable of winning games of cricket for Tasmania.

“It doesn’t come down to just a few key players, but we’ve probably underperformed as a group and that’s something we need to look at.”

The Tigers will play their final two games of the season against the NSW Breakers in Sydney on 21 and 23 February.

While Carey and Lee are back from the WPL, the former has been called back to the Australian side after three years and will be featuring in the multi-format series against India.

WNCL 2025-26 standings