Match facts
Who: NSW Breakers v Queensland Fire
What: Final, WNCL 2025-26
Where: Cricket Central, Sydney
When: Saturday, March 21. Coin toss at 9:15am AEDT, first ball at 10am AEDT
How to watch: cricket.com.au, CA Live app, Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports
How to attend: Entry to Cricket Central is free
Live scores: Match Centre
Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au and the CA Live app
Officials: Eloise Sheridan and Ben Treloar (standing), Troy Penman (third), Sharad Patel (fourth), Janine Stainer (match referee).
Match squads (Yet to be announced)
Possible NSW squad: Lauren Cheatle (c), Georgia Adams, Sam Bates, Maitlan Brown, Sarah Coyte, Lucy Finn, Alyssa Healy, Elsa Hunter, Anika Learoyd, Katie Mack, Claire Moore, Frankie Nicklin, Tahlia Wilson
Retiring champion Alyssa Healy will play as she seeks to win her 11th WNCL title, in what will be her final match of professional cricket for the Breakers. NSW has also been bouyed by the news that new Aussie ODI squad member Tahlia Wilson will be available to play in the final before jetting off to the Caribbean to join her international teammates.
Player of the tournament Katie Mack will be eager to have a big impact as she chases her first title after 106 matches in the competition. Lauren Cheatle has led the Breakers with aplomb in her first season in charge and again forms the dangerous new-ball pairing alongside Maitlan Brown.
Possible Queensland squad: Georgia Redmayne (c), Charli Knott, Bonnie Berry, Lucy Bourke, Sianna Ginger, Nicola Hancock, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Annie O’Neil, Grace Parsons, Ruby Strange, Lauren Winfield-Hill, Mikayla Wrigley
Georgia Redmayne, now the full-time Queensland captain, will led her state in a final for the third time, after having the duties in the past two deciders. From last year’s final between the two sides, the Fire gain Grace Harris and Jess Jonassen, both of whom were missed due to WPL commitments. Annie O’Neill has been a great pick up after being cut from South Australia’s squad over winter while the Fire have also seen promising improvement from young guns Sianna Ginger, Ruby Strange, Lucy Bourke and Mikayla Wrigley.
Form this season
Most recent first. W: win, L: loss, D: no result
NSW: WLWWWWWWWWWW
NSW were very close to completing a perfect, unbeaten season by taking the ‘W’ in their first 10 matches. However, a final-over loss to South Australia in the the final round of matches proved the Breakers can be beaten in 2025-26.
Queensland: WWLLLLWWWWWW
A funny old season for Queensland who charged out of the gate with two wins in Perth against Western Australia and followed that with four comfortable wins over ACT and Tasmania. Then they lost four on the trot, two to SA at home and two away to NSW. However, a strong finish to the season against Victoria has given the Fire a bit of momentum into the decider.
Head-to-head
The NSW-Queensland clashes this season came during the Women’s Premier League window, meaning both sides were missing a few of their regular players.
In the first matchup, Katie Mack (95) and Claire Moore (78) piled on the runs as NSW posted 7-309, despite Jess Jonassen removing Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry cheaply. In reply, Georgia Redmayne’s even 100 went in vain as no other Queensland batter passed 40.
Two days later, the Breakers claimed a heart-stopping one-wicket win, the second time the Fire had lost by that margin in the space of a couple of weeks. After posting an under-par 188 all out (Lauren Cheatle 4-32, Frankie Nicklin 3-33), Queensland made a game of it with regular wickets through the innings. Despite losing 3-2 in seven balls, the final pairing of Cheatle and Sam Bates held their nerve to scrounge the 12 runs required for victory. Watch the highlights from that clash below:
And of course, these two sides met in last year’s final! That was Queensland’s home game and NSW managed to defend 215 runs at Allan Border Field, despite (again) a spirited innings from Redmayne. She was run out at the non-striker’s end for 97 in a blow that ended the Fire’s hopes. Anika Learoyd was player of the match for her first-innings 80.
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Players to watch
Katie Mack: After 106 WNCL matches, Katie Mack will finally play in her first WNCL final. It’s just reward for the prolific run-scorer and recently-named player of the year. Her off-season return to her native NSW was about chasing silverware and the transition couldn’t have gone better with more than 600 runs to her name. The only thing missing from her season so far is a century, although she has come mighty close with three scores in the 90s.
Grace Harris: While the match-winning allrounder has won the elusive Ruth Preddy Cup (in 2020-21) and took 4-48 on that day, she is yet to rip open a final with the bat. From her three WNCL final appearances, Harris has returned scores of 1no, 0 and 20. For someone with as much talent as Harris, it’s fair to expect that a pivotal knock in a high-pressure situation would be high on her wishlist.
Top performers
Local knowledge
Cricket Central has been a high-scoring ground this season, with several scores of 300+. Pace has been slightly more effective than spin, while NSW are undefeated from their six matches so far this season.
What’s on the line?
The Ruth Preddy Cup is on the line. The trophy was introduced in the 1972-73 season and acknowledges one of the pioneers of the game in Preddy, a former NSW player and administrator, Australia team manager and sports editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Since the WNCL replaced the Australian Women’s Cricket Championships in 1996-97, the NSW Breakers have dominated the competition by winning a remarkable 21 titles.
Queensland have made the past two WNCL finals, losing to Tasmania and then NSW last season. Breakers veteran Coyte has won ‘Ruth’ a remarkable 10 times from 10 attempts and will be gunning for number 11 on Saturday.
WNCL Final
21 March: NSW v Queensland, Cricket Central, 10am AEDT
