WNCL Season Review

The victory over the Scorpions saw them end the season with three wins from twelve matches, finishing in seventh place. 
 
While it didn’t all go to plan from a team perspective, there were still plenty of moments to highlight as the group prepares to work hard over the off-season and put themselves in a position to compete for the title next summer.  
 
Star opener Maddy Darke produced yet another consistent campaign at the top of the order, as she continues to prove herself as one of the dominant top-order batters in the country. 
 
The classy right-hander compiled 543 runs from 12 innings at 49.36, including five half-centuries. Darke’s season run tally is the highest -ever produced by a WA Woman in the National competition.  

The highlight of Darke’s season came in last week’s final set of matches against South Australia, where she compiled her two best scores of the summer (74 and 86).  

Darke often got her side off to good starts in the Powerplay, forming a valuable opening partnership with skipper Chloe Piparo. 

The 23-year-old’s ability to stay calm and composed at the crease was also a real feature, as was her ability to manipulate the ball against both pace and spin. 

Her form during the WNCL carried on a breakout 12 months for the rising star, having shown her prolific run-scoring ability for Australia A during a mutli-format series against India A in Brisbane in August. 

After a brilliant 2023-24 season which saw her named WNCL Player of the Year and crowned the Zoe Goss Medallist for the second time, expectations were high for spin-bowling allrounder Amy Edgar heading into another WNCL campaign. 

Despite the 26-year-old missing three matches due to injury, Edgar put together a career-best wickets tally, ending with 21 at an impressive average of 15.71. 
 
After an interrupted start to the season, Edgar really found her groove after the WBBL break, capturing 19 wickets in her final eight matches, including a personal-best of 4/10 in a dominant seven-wicket victory over New South Wales at the WACA Ground. 
 
Her wicket tally placed her third among competition bowlers, only bettered by South Australian Amanda-Jade Wellington (29 at 20.48) and Tasmania’s Maisy Gibson (23 at 20.65).  
 
Her partnership with fellow spinner Lilly Mills (19 wickets at 28) was a fruitful one, with the pair often being called upon to take a wicket when the team needed it most. 

Recruit Mikayla Hinkley also stood out during her first season in the West, with the powerful right-hander adding much needed experience and dynamism to the middle order. 
 
Hinkley (382 runs at 34.72) produced consistently as the summer wore on, including a sustained run of form during the second half of the season as her side’s form started to improve. 

|Her highlights included two fifties (83 and 58) and another score of 38 during a prolific three-match stretch against Victoria and ACT earlier this month.  

The playing squad were forced to deal with a multitude of team changes across the summer, particularly in the bowling stocks, with experienced pair Taneale Peschel and Piepa Cleary restricted to just five matches between them due to injury. 

Teenage quick Chloe Ainsworth also missed significant time due to injury and unavailability, which left WA short of their first-choice pace battery. 

While Ainsworth didn’t get to play the amount of WNCL games she would have liked, her ascension as one of Australia’s brightest young talents was recognised with selection in the U19s World Cup squad, as well as spending time with Australia’s ODI squad before their match against India at the WACA Ground. 

On a brighter note, WA were able to unveil six debutants during the 12-match season, with English pair Emily Arlott and Naomi Dattani as well as talented locals Chloe Bartholomew, Rebecca McGrath and Maddie White all joining the WA Cricket family alongside Hinkley. 

Meanwhile, Head Coach Becky Grundy will get the opportunity to expand her coaching resume next month, when she takes charge of Australia A in a multi-format series against England A. 

The honour represents a unique challenge for Grundy, who has been at the helm of WA’s WNCL side since the start of the 2020-21 summer.  

Assistant Coach Wes Robinson will also get the chance to further his coaching credentials, after being named as an assistant for the ‘Green v Gold’ three-day fixture which will see some of Australia’s best domestic players battle it out in a rare red-ball fixture. 

Star duo Alana King and Beth Mooney will feature on the international stage later this month, after being selected for Australia’s limited-overs tour of New Zealand.

King and Mooney are fresh dominant performances in the recent Ashes series, with Mooney breaking the record for most runs scored in a multi-format series while King was named Player of the Series after taking 23 wickets.