State coach survey: The best young women’s cricketers and future Australia players

For the first time in a long time, Australia didn’t win the T20 World Cup. Where are our next champions coming from? The coaches tasked with shaping the next crop of stars reveal the best talent coming through the system.

The next generation of Australian stars are coming through fast.

Australia’s shock exit in the semi-final at the T20 World Cup had the feel of being the end of an era.

Not just because there was no Meg Lanning, nor injured skipper Alyssa Healy, but because it happened at a tournament they’ve won six out of eight times.

There’s never been a T20 World Cup final that doesn’t involve either Australia or England, until now.

And so it has brought into sharp focus the need for new blood.

Who are the names who could force their way into Australia’s national set-up and become the next group of trophy-hunting machines?

CODE Sports caught up with all seven women’s state coaches before the season started to get the answers to two questions: which young guns should we be looking out for, and who is ready to push for national selection.

ACT

Having held her own in the WNCL last season as an 18-year-old, Grace Lyons earned Under-19s selection for the tour of Sri Lanka and coach Erin Osborne sees big things in the young wicketkeeper’s future.

“For such a young person who hasn’t played a whole lot of cricket, she reads the game exceptionally well,” Osborne said. “She’s one to look out for for future leadership.

“She manipulates the ball, hits the space and, and runs hard between the wickets.

“She knows her strengths and plays to that really well. And then behind the stumps, she’s got very quick hands.”

A veteran of the domestic scene with a record among the very best, ACT captain Katie Mack has been waiting a long time for a national call-up.

“Katie Mack continues to produce runs and has been a leading run-scorer for the past few years in the Big Bash and WNCL,” Osborne said. “She’s raring to go and she wouldn’t look out of, out a place in the Australian setup.

“I don’t think that’s necessarily what drives Katie anymore. She’s been around long enough and understands the landscape at the moment and that Australian team’s quite difficult to crack.

“What drives Katie now is leaving Cricket ACT in a better place than how she found it and she’s already made massive inroads in that. Katie’s more worried about looking after our young guns and mentoring them, helping them start their journey.”

NSW

NSW are expecting big things to come from 20-year-old batter Claire Moore. Hailing from Richmond in Sydney’s north-west, Moore was a staple of the NSW Breakers’ team through last season’s WNCL and has carried that into the current campaign.

While her success has largely come in one-day cricket so far, coach Gavan Twining sees a T20 player in her as well.

“We’ve been really happy with Claire Moore,” Twining said. “Her mindset and how she approaches her innings, it’s been really positive this year. She’s taken a few good strides forward.

“She’s a pretty stylish, pretty traditional sort of player suited a little bit more to 50 over cricket than T20 at the moment, but she wants to make T20 a part of her game as well.”

Fast-bowler Maitlan Brown and wicketkeeper-batter Tahlia Wilson both excelled for Australia A in the off-season, and unsurprisingly were nominated by Twining as his state’s next Australian stars.

Brown was the top wicket-taker through the one-dayers, while Wilson the top run-scorer (142 at 71.00 with a strike rate of 133.96) in the T20s. Her biggest obstacle to an Australia debut of course is one Alyssa Healy, but Twining could see Wilson coming through as a specialist batter – the role she took on for Australia A.

“She’s a key at the top of our order with Claire. That T20 series against India A has really shown what she can do – lay a really good platform for the season.

“Obviously for Tahlia it’s hard with the Aussie captain ahead of her with the gloves, but her batting’s come along really well.”

After a run of injury-interrupted seasons, Brown is being backed to shine this summer.

“The more she bowled, the better she looked with both her pace and her accuracy,” Twining said of Brown. “We’re looking forward to, obviously, her having some games under her belt and no injuries.

“Quicks often go down, so the more you sort of have in the background the better. If the chance came, she’d be ready to take it, that’s for sure.”

QUEENSLAND

As the state’s former talent manager for female cricketers, new Queensland coach Mark Sorell has had ample opportunity to see the next generation coming through. And he’s excited by teen duo Lucy Hamilton andSianna Ginger.

Ginger, was a regular for the Fire throughout the 2023-24 season after making her debut the summer prior, while Hamilton impressed across a handful of matches last season.

More recently, Hamilton starred in April’s Under-19s ODI tri-series against England and Sri Lanka, topping the run-scoring (101 at 50.50) and finishing the best of Australia’s bowlers (5 wickets at 11).

“There’s an overall increasing confidence in what they’re doing,” Sorell said. “Obviously when you’ve been in the system for a couple of years it doesn’t shock you as much and you feel a bit more settled in with what you’re trying to do and what it’s all about.

“They have an increasing desire to keep being better, which is what we all want.”

Queensland had four players in the Australia A team that took on India in the off-season – they would have had a fifth if not for an injury to Courtney Sippel. Sorrell says all five – Nicola Hancock, Georgia Voll, Grace Parsons, Charli Knottand Sippell – are there or thereabouts, but it’s Knott he spent the longest discussing.

Still only 21, Knott was entrusted with captaining Australia A in its unofficial Test against India A.

“All of those girls are sort of sitting in there around the money with that Aus A recognition, but Charlie Knott has certainly shown that she continues to get better and better.

“Getting captaincy roles at Australia A level shows the high regard she’s held in as a player and a leader.

“Charlie’s certainly growing each and every day as a player. Along with all those other girls, Charlie’s really starting to shine.”

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Australia under-19 star Eleanor Larosa is a genuine all-rounder who “gives the ball a whack,” according to South Australia coach Mick Delaney.

“She’s just a competitor, she’s someone that as soon as she gets in the contest she’s better for it and a left-arm bowler that swings it around and can bowl plenty of change up through the middle,” Sorrel said. “From a batting point of view, she’s someone who looks to take the game on.

“Her batting’s really come along. She’s always had the ability to score quickly and to score big runs, but she’s looking a little bit more consistent at the moment with her approach and added a few more shots to her game.”

The left-hander notched a half-century and took a three-for in April’s Under-19 tri-series in Sri Lanka, and has started the season strongly for South Australia.

The reigning Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year, Emma de Broughe is being backed for higher honours after getting a taste of Australia A cricket over the off-season, scoring a half-century opening the batting in the unofficial Test.

Also in that Test, seamer Kate Peterson caught the eye – taking the remarkable figures of 5-16.

“Emma de Broughe at the top of the order is going to have a big year,” Delaney said. “She’s just starting to learn her game really and she’s still quite young, so she’s got plenty of cricket ahead of her.

“Those two (de Broughe and Peterson) are going to have big years and they’re two that when needed they’re going to be able to take that step up and play a significant role for the Aussie team.”

TASMANIA

Chasing a fourth straight WNCL trophy for Tasmania, coach Jude Coleman is expecting big things from 21-year-old Hayley Silver-Holmes and Ruth Johnston this summer.

But it’s the express pace of Wilson that has her really excited. Having battled through a series of stress fractures, Callie Wilson is rated among the fastest bowlers in Australia.

“At her quickest, I reckon she’d be about 120kmh,” Coleman said. “She’d be up there with a Darcie Brown kind of pace.

“We’ve got a lot of quick bowlers in the women’s game, but once you hit 120 it’s just that little bit faster and it’s a point of difference.

“There’s only a handful of those kind of bowlers around the country, so it’s very handy to have in a squad.”

A handy legspinner and consistent run-scorer, Rachel Trenaman is an Australia player-in-waiting according to Coleman.

“She’s one that’s definitely got a future, if she can get through these injuries, with the Aussie side.”

The Australian team is a hard one to break into right now, but Coleman is hopeful star all-rounder Heather Graham can get an extended run having spent plenty of time in and around squads.

“Heather’s [Cricket Australia] contracted, but she hasn’t played a lot of games for Australia.

“I’d love to see Heather get herself into the side and become a much more constant figure in that lineup.”

VICTORIA

Teen tyro Milly Illingworth has already breached the 120kmh mark and she’s aiming much higher than that having modelled her action on the great Jeff Thomson. A regular for Victoria and the Stars since last summer, Illingworth’s development has coach Andrew Christie very optimistic.

“She’s continuing to bowl really fast and her accuracy is something that’s probably surprised a few people at this stage,” he said.

Expect Illingworth to be joined in the attack by fellow quick Rhys McKenna this season, with the Vics excited to have her back up and running after an injury-plagued season.

Spin-bowling all-rounder Hasrat Gill impressed for Australia’s Under-19s earlier this year and Christie believes the Vics have got a special talent on their hands.

“Her maturity when she plays the game and the way she reads the game, her knowledge and her skill and her calmness, nothing seems to phase her.

“She certainly goes out there and whether it’s with ball in hand bowling her leg spin or with the bat up the order or down the bottom, she takes on whatever’s in front of her and just does it in a really calm way. It’s great to watch actually.”

With Victoria’s healthy contingent of Australia players all likely to miss swathes of the season through national duty, Christie expects all three rookies to play big roles this summer.

Reliable keeper-batter Nicole Faltum wore the gloves for the limited overs leg of Australia A’s series against India, while spinner Sophie Day was picked for all three T20s, and all-rounder Flintoff played in all seven games. It was the Test that Tess Flintoff had the biggest impact of any of the three, taking 3-39 with her seamers to bowl Australia to victory.

“They’ve had plenty of exposure to games already and high level competition, and they’ll certainly be a key pillar for us this year,” Christie said of the trio, backing them to push for national attention.

He sees Australia A duties in the not too distant future for all three of Gill, McKenna and Illingworth.

“Hasrat’s doing it at an under-19 level, so I think for her it’s a matter of time. Hopefully once she gets out of that underage category she will push the boundary again with Australia A representation.”

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Teen sensation Chloe Ainsworth took domestic cricket by storm last summer, being named in the WBBL team of the season in her debut campaign and earning a squad call up for the Governor General’s XI.

A bowler with genuine pace, who is starting to show real signs as a quality batter as well, Ainsworth ticks all the right boxes for coach Becky Grundy.

“It’s hard to look past Chloe Ainsworth,” Grundy said. “For her, it’s just being able to back that up this year.

“She’s worked incredibly hard over the offseason and preseason, coming back from injury and has got herself fighting fit again.

“She’s got the promise to be an all-round package. She absolutely loves the game and she loves training, which is great around the group.

“She’s got ball speed and she’s able to move the ball with that speed too. And she’s developing her batting day by day, and from a fielding perspective, she’d be one of our strongest out there.

“That from a young player, it’s incredibly exciting.”

Rising wicketkeeper-batter Maddy Darke put herself firmly in the frame as Alyssa Healy’s back-up wicketkeeper with unbeaten List A and first-class centuries for Australia A in its recent series against India A.

“To see her go and kind of dominate at that level, it will do wonders for her confidence” Grundy said. “All she can do is keep knocking the door down and keep working hard on the keeping and the batting as well.

“She’s incredibly young still, so keep learning, keep looking for opportunities to play in different conditions where they may arise. She’s got many years ahead of her to hopefully break into that side.”

Originally published as State coach survey: The best young women’s cricketers and future Australia players