The Brisbane Heat led by skipper Jess Jonassen punched above their weight despite losing a significant amount of their players in the pre-season transfer, with Georgia Voll shifting bases to the Sydney Thunder, Melie Kerr and Courtney Sippel to the Sydney Sixers, and Mikayla Hinkley to the Scorchers.
Notably, the Heat are also without veteran South African batter Mignon du Preez who was unavailable following the birth of her twin daughters, while former coach Ashley Noffke moved to New Zealand to begin his stint with Otago.
However, the bench strength stepped up and capitalized on the opportunities they got. The Jess Jonassen-led side finished 2nd on the points table with 14 points from 10 games, including 7 victories, and advanced directly to the Challenger.
Grace Harris is currently the leading run-scorer for the Heat with 270 runs at a strike rate of 135 and an average of 30 in 10 outings. Her tally of runs includes one half-century, with a best score of 75 (57 balls) against the Hobart Hurricanes on 2nd November 2024.
Skipper Jess Jonassen has led from the front as she picked up 14 wickets at an economy of 7 in 10 outings with the ball. Apart from her exploits with the ball, she has also scored 174 runs at a strike rate of 124.28 and an average of 34.80 in 9 innings. Keeping aside her all-round contributions, she also showed remarkable leadership qualities, guiding her side to the seventh consecutive finals.
“I think the only people that were concerned were those from outside of these walls. I feel like we’ve proved a few of the doubters wrong, but we’re by no means done proving that point,” shared skipper Jess Jonassen about coming in as the underdogs yet displaying impressive performances despite a few significant changes in the set-up before the start of the season.
Brisbane Heat picked up Nadine de Klerk, Shikha Pandey, and Jemimah Rodrigues in the overseas draft before the start of the landmark 10th edition of the WBBL. The veteran pace-bowling all-rounder Shikha Pandey, who is one of their Indian recruits (alongside Jemimah Rodrigues) is currently the 2nd highest wicket-taker for the club after skipper Jess Jonassen. The Indian pacer has picked up 12 wickets at an impressive average of 19.50 and an economy of 6.68 in 10 outings.
“Having the international class of someone like Shikha Pandey around, who can talk fast bowling (with local players), talk tactics, talk plans, I think that’s something that’s really added a lot of value to our pace bowling attack, particularly, that I feel like a lot of those girls have really thrived upon,” Jess Jonassen spoke about the value Shikha Pandey added to the Brisbane Heat set up, mentoring local talent.
Jess also hailed Shikha as ‘one of the biggest competitors,’ sharing, “Shikha adds a level of calm, but equally passion as well. She’s one of the biggest competitors that you’ll ever come across and she’s a real student of the game as well. She’s still always looking to try and learn and improve her game, and of those around her as well.”
The young 18-year-old rising pace-bowling sensation Lucy Hamilton is at the forefront of the Heat’s bowling attack. She is the 3rd highest wicket-taker for the side, with 10 wickets in five innings at an exceptional average of 7.70 and an exceptional economy of 4.81 in five outings so far. Her tally of wickets includes one five-wicket haul against the Melbourne Stars when she returned with match figures of 4-1-8-5 in her spell on 17th November 2024 at the Drummoyne Oval, Sydney.
The young 21-year-old leg-spinner Grace Parsons is currently the 5th highest wicket-taker for her side with 7 wickets at an economy of 7.17 in 9 innings with the ball for her side.
These youngsters along with the core group of players including the likes of Georgia Redmayne, the Harris sisters, Grace and Laura, Charli Knott and the skipper Jess Jonassen will play a crucial role for the Brisbane Heat in the Challenger against Sydney Thunder led by skipper Phoebe Litchfield at Allan Border Field, Brisbane on 29th November 2024, from 1:45 PM IST. The winner of the game will book a spot in the title clash against the Melbourne Renegades on 1st December 2024.
(Quotes sourced from cricket.com.au)
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