Mack named WNCL Player of the Year

Cricket Australia congratulates Katie Mack (New South Wales) who has been named the 2025-26 Women’s National Cricket League Player of the Year.

Mack made an impactful return to NSW Breakers this season after 12 summers with ACT Meteors, scoring 632 runs from 12 innings at an average of 63.2 as part of the Breakers’ top order.

The 32-year-old, who played her 100th match during the season, surpassed 3500 WNCL career runs, moving into seventh-place for all-time runs scored in the league.

Mack polled 26 votes across the season to finish ahead of ACT’s Zoe Cooke (20 votes), NSW teammate Lauren Cheatle (18), ACT’s Annie Wikman (18), QLD’s Georgia Redmayne (16) and WA’s Chloe Piparo (16).

For the WNCL Player of the Year award, votes are cast by both on-field umpires on a 3-2-1 basis, meaning the maximum votes any player can receive in a match is six.

Reigning champions NSW Breakers will face Queensland Fire for the Ruth Preddey Cup in the WNCL Final this Saturday from 10am at Cricket Central.

The two sides also faced off in the 2025-26 decider, with the Breakers prevailing by 21 runs at Allan Border Field on that occasion.

Retiring Australia captain Alyssa Healy will play her final state game as she lines up for the New South Wales Breakers.

The Final will be broadcast on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports, and will also be streamed live and free via the CA Live app and cricket.com.au

Peter Clarke, New South Wales Breakers head coach, said:

“We’re grateful to have the opportunity to compete in the final. We’ll prepare as well as we can, give our best on the day, and let the chips fall where they may. That’s what we do every game, and that’s what we’ll do again.

“We enjoy the work, especially the process of trying to be the best we can be as a team. And that’s not a ‘destination’ you ever reach, rather something that we can continually strive for and keep evolving together.

“If we’re able to stay present and enjoy the opportunity ahead of us, we’ll give ourselves the chance to put our best on show. If we do that, we’ll live with whatever outcome is there for us.”

Mark Sorrell, Queensland Fire head coach, said: 

“We’re really proud of the resilience and character shown by this team. We started the season well, fell off the pace a bit, and then came home strongly.

“The team had to be honest with ourselves along the way, and the commitment everyone has shown to get us into the Final has been first class.

“As a group, we have been able to benefit from a settled combination of selfless senior players and some of the most exciting young players in the country.

“It’s been a pretty enjoyable season and we’re very excited to be playing in the Final again on Saturday.”