Victoria has announced its 13-player travelling squad for this week's pair of away matches against Tasmania, with the opportunity to make the upcoming WNCL finals still alive.
To qualify for its first finals appearance since 2021-21, Victoria will likely need to defeat the home side in both games, with the race for the top two being hotly contested between South Australia (26 points), New South Wales and Victoria (25 points) and Tasmania (23 points).
Victoria travels to Hobart in hot form after a comprehensive victory over the ladder-leading Queensland Fire last round, headlined by Ella Hayward's career-best 6/31 and the team's exceptional all-round performance in the field.
The success of the Victorian pathways system continues to shine, with Australian U19 representative, Sara Kennedy, included in the squad for the first time in her emerging career.
Kennedy is one of three players aged 19 years or younger in the squad, joining Samara Dulvin and Hasrat Gill.
The talented left-arm quick made her WBBL debut at just sixteen-years-old and was also recently awarded the Australian Cricket Society's Young Female Cricketer of the Year in 2024.
It's been a memorable season for a number of Victoria's young but experienced players, with the likes of Rhys McKenna, Tess Flintoff and Ella Hayward all making significant progress in their development.
Speaking on Episode 38 of the Victoria State Cricket Podcast on Tuesday night, Head Coach, Andy Christie, said it's been pleasing to watch their growth.
"We've been really clear with all our players about expectations and how they can best prepare during the week to perform at an elite level," said Christie.
"You look at Ella and her progression, she's graduated her way through the batting line-up and she's someone, like a number of our players, where the more responsibility you give her the more she responds, leans into it and takes the game on.
"Tess Flintoff is another one, who's 70 not out a few weeks ago was match defining, and the maturity she displayed shows where she's now at. I think that applies to a lot of our players where they've proved to themselves where they can do that, they can impact a game.
"These moments and improvements throughout the season gives us great confidence in our ability to perform under pressure and we're looking forward to this exciting challenge in Tasmania this week."
Victoria faces Tasmania in the WNCL on Wednesday February 19 (10:30 AM AEDT) and Friday February 21 (2 pm AEDT) with both matches streamed live on Kayo and cricket.com.au
Victorian Women's Squad vs Tasmania
- Nicole Faltum (C)
- Sophie Day
- Samara Dulvin
- Tess Flintoff
- Hasrat Gill
- Ella Hayward
- Olivia Henry
- Sara Kennedy
- Rhys McKenna
- Sasha Moloney
- Jasmin Nevins
- Georgia Prestwidge
- Sophie Reid
