The 100-gamer led the way with bat and ball in the Fire’s nine-wicket trouncing of the Vics
Queensland have hammered Victoria in Jess Jonassen’s milestone match to claim a bonus point victory and return to second place on the WNCL table.
After bowling out the Vics for 104, the Fire raced to their target in 14.5 overs to complete a comprehensive nine-wicket win.
It now leaves the Fire with a nervous 24 hours as they wait for the result of the Western Australia-ACT clash on Sunday, which will determine whether or not Queensland feature in this year’s WNCL decider.
WNCL 2025-26 standings
By winning with 211 balls to spare, the Fire’s net run rate jumped from 0.159 to 0.459.
Jonassen opened the bowling and the batting in her 100th match for Queensland, who simultaneously with Sam Bates for New South Wales in Adelaide, became the 34th and 35th players to reach the mark in the competition.
“To be honest, I’m incredibly proud,” Jonassen said after the match.
“I’ve been lucky that I’ve had a little bit of time for it to be able to sink in.
“The (pre-game) presentation was super special as a real full circle moment with having Mel Bulow speak … for someone who I’ve idolised for my whole career and gave me my first ever Queensland cap as a Under-12 Queensland representative.
“It’s something that I never thought, when I started my career, would ever happen. To have had it happen and to have played as many years as I have, I’m incredibly proud.”
The Fire rocketed along in pursuit of their small target and their innings was littered with Victorian fielding errors, with numerous misfields and catches dropped.
New opener Jonassen rocketed along to an unbeaten 41 from 40 balls, to go nicely with her score of 69 from Thursday. Although the Fire lost the sole wicket of Georgia Redmayne (22), her replacement in Charli Knott (31no) came out with complete freedom and finished the job with a string of boundaries.
By knocking off the runs inside 15 overs, it was Queensland’s fastest win (in terms of balls faced) ever and the fourth-fastest overall in the history of the competition.
With a bonus point front of mind, skipper Redmayne chose to chase when she won the toss and Sianna Ginger was into the action in the third over with a perfect in-swinger clean-bowling Ella Hayward.
But it was spin, not pace, that proved Queensland’s biggest weapon.
With Bonnie Berry left out for this match, Jonassen took the new ball and claimed two scalps at either end of the innings.
However it was the combination of Grace Parsons (3-34) and Knott (3-8) that proved the most destructive, with Victoria unable to cope with their control, spin and bounce.
Parsons, fresh off her maiden five-wicket haul, bowled her 10 overs straight and bowled a number of unplayable deliveries.
Victoria lost five wickets for four runs in the space of a disastrous 3.3 overs to destroy any chance of a competitive total for the visitors.
