South Australia hold the nerves to get over the line in thriller

Darcie Brown's best haul in 50-over cricket and an incredible last-wicket stand has led South Australia to an unlikely one-wicket victory over Queensland in a result that seriously dents the Fire's hopes of hosting the WNCL final.

SA needed Brown and 20-year-old star-in-the-making Eleanor Larosa to score 40 runs for the final wicket, which they did to seal the win with 42 balls to spare.

The partnership came after the visitors found themselves at 9-155, with the Fire having just taken 5-29 in the space of seven overs with Sianna Ginger (4-35) and Nicola Hancock (2-54) striking.

But Larosa's class – she hit three sumptuous straight drives – and Brown's patience with the bat saw the pair pull off the highest final-wicket stand to win a match in WNCL history.

Earlier, Australian star Darcie Brown took 5-45, the first time she has taken a five-wicket haul in limited overs matches, either at domestic or international level.

Brown's performance, which will bring a smile to the faces of the Australian selectors on the eve of the multi-format series against India, ensured the ladder leaders Queensland were bowled out for under 200 for the second time in two days, this time dismissed for 194.

After two successive losses, the Fire have relinquished top spot on the table to New South Wales, who today completed a second straight bonus-point win over ACT.

The team on top of the standings at season's end will host the final.

The under-strength Queensland, missing five of their first-choice players to the Women's Premier League in India and to injury, were unable to hold their nerve in the closing stages.

With the front-line bowlers mostly out of overs, skipper Georgia Redmayne threw the ball to part-timers Lucy Bourke and Laura Harris in the hope of a Michael Clarke circa 2008-style miracle.

But both bowlers delivered wides to greatly relieve the pressure. The Queenslanders bowled 21 wides after delivering an eye-watering 22 on Tuesday.

Sent in by SA captain Jemma Barsby, Queensland's innings never got going, with regular wickets through the Powerplay and middle overs.

It wasn't until Ruby Strange (39no) and Grace Parsons (26) combined for the ninth wicket that a big partnership formed, as the tail-end pair showed their top order how to approach the conditions.

The duo, who both hit career-high individual scores, put on 70 runs which was the second-highest ninth-wicket stand in the Fire's history.

Brown bowled with great pace with the new ball and seemed to bowl faster as the innings progressed.

She took the massive scalps of Georgia Redmayne and Lauren Winfield-Hill in her first spell, and returned later in the innings to break the Strange-Parsons stand by bouncing out the leg-spinner.

WNCL 2025-26 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Total points PTS
1 NSW Women NSW	8	8	0	0	0	1.22	0	4	36
2 Queensland Fire QLD	10	6	4	0	0	0.072	0	3	27
3 South Australia Women SA	8	5	3	0	0	-0.224	0	1	21
4 Western Australia Women WA	8	4	4	0	0	-0.014	0	2	18
5 ACT Meteors ACT	8	4	4	0	0	-0.057	0	1	17
6 Tasmanian Tigers Women TAS	10	3	7	0	0	0.17	0	3	15
7 Victoria Women VIC	8	0	8	0	0	-1.229	1	0	-1

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

PTS: Total points