‘Look out Brisbane’: Georgia Voll sends clear message to Heat ahead of her return with Thunder in WBBL finals

Georgia Voll may be a proud Queenslander, but she’ll be public enemy No.1 when she comes out to bat for the Thunder with a WBBL final spot on the line.

Georgia Voll spent four seasons with the Brisbane Heat, but the proud Queenslander has a simple message to her former teammates as she prepares to head home for Friday’s grand final qualifier.

“I’m due now, so look out Brisbane,” she said after the Thunder’s win over the Hurricanes when she had a rare off night with the bat.

Voll didn’t hear much from her former teammates when the Thunder played the Heat a few weeks ago, but she’s expecting things to be a bit different this time around at Allan Border Field, with the winner to face the Renegades in Sunday’s WBBL final.

Georgia Voll will come up against her former teammates when the Thunder face the Heat on Friday. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

After being starved of opportunities in Brisbane, Voll has made the most of her move to Sydney, where she’s bludgeoned two scores in the 90s and is set to make her debut for Australia next week at the top of the order.

The 21-year-old was forced to bat down the order at the Heat with Grace Harris and Georgia Redmayne the preferred openers, but she’s excelled at the Thunder and earnt a maiden spot in the WBBL team of the tournament.

“Overall, it’s been a really good move for me as a person and a cricketer,” she said.

“I have grown so much since moving down here and learning off different people and coaches. All the girls have been great as well. It’s such a great culture down here. To score some runs tops it off.

“But I was more looking forward to having a great group around me to learn off different people, and obviously the coaches, working closely with Maxy Klinger. To score some runs from it and get picked in an Aussie squad is just the cherry on top.

“I always wanted to open. You look at Grace Harris and ‘Redders’, they have done the job at the Heat for the past couple of years.

Voll has had her best year with the bat at the Thunder. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“It was always going to be tough for me to nail down a spot and obviously last year I was up and down the order, which was quite tough. That’s why I wanted to open the batting. I do it for Queensland and I do it for club back home.

“So that was my main goal, to open the batting and come down here and have the opportunity and be backed by the coaches down here. And to be able to go out and bat and score some runs as well.

“That’s what Queenslanders are about, when they get pushed down they find a way to get back out. They’re a quality team, have always been a quality team. If we play our best cricket, I think we can beat them.

“But they will fight until the end, we know that. But if we can play our best cricket, I think we can get the win over them.”

Phoebe Litchfield kept the Thunder’s season alive with a true captain’s knock against Hobart. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Voll will open the batting for Australia next week with Thunder skipper Phoebe Litchfield, who led from the front with a matchwinning 46 to guide them home against Hobart.

While others were relaxing before Wednesday’s match, Litchfield spent the day in the SCG nets under the baking Sydney sun, with the young gun making the most of a missed stumping on 23 to steer her side home.

“I think once I get a life like that, I was already thinking (I had to) win the game, but it kind of reiterates that and it just makes me clear and reset,” she said.

“Take the leadership off me and I’m still a leader with the bat in this line-up, and having my international experience now makes me a player who has to finish off games like that and I really pride myself on that.

“But it was extra special to be able to be a skipper and win the game.”