Fire starter: Queensland target a new dynasty

In a season of false starts and unexpected interruptions, it seemed fitting that Queensland's charge towards their maiden Women's National Cricket League title would be disrupted by a late-night COVID19 test on the eve of the final, and a race against time for the results.

Queensland captain Georgia Redmayne, a clear player of the match for her unbeaten 134 in the Fire's 112-run victory over Victoria in Melbourne, was just settling into bed at 9pm on Friday night when the Whatsapp messages started flooding in.

The Victoria Government had just declared any arrivals from Brisbane since March 12 would need to be tested for COVID19, and isolate until they received a result.

The rapid response of Cricket Australia's medical staff saw players tested within the hour, and all were declared negative by 7am on Saturday morning.

"Poor Mikayla Hinkley woke up to about 20 messages about getting swabs," Redmayne said as her teammates celebrated the historic win.

"They were brilliant actually, the health workers who came in to swab us. They came in somewhere between 10 and 10.30 and they were really efficient.

"It was a bit of a nervous wait overnight waiting for them all to come back negative … we really appreciate all the help from the CA medical staff with that one.

"Big sigh of relief that we were all able to get out here and play today."

The disruption to their normal routines could have rattled the Queensland squad, but it was exactly the sort of thing they have become accustomed to during their longest-ever season.

First, the start of the domestic one-day season was delayed three times, the schedule repeatedly rewritten to accommodate the latest border closures.

When Queensland did finally arrive in Canberra for their first match on January 30, the game was relocated on the day due to a waterlogged outfield at Chisholm Oval.

They lost that match, and their second, at home to South Australia, leaving their season in danger of being over when it had barely even begun.

That second loss was a moment of reckoning for the Fire squad, when regular skipper Jess Jonassen – absent from the final due to national duties – called her group together for a candid assessment of where they were at.

"I think we can give a lot of that credit to JJ and the way she's led this group," Redmayne said.

"We didn't get off to the start that we wanted at all, we probably lost games to two of the teams that we thought would have been easier wins than perhaps some of the ones we came up against later.

"We were really disappointed in the way that we played, rain was affecting it as well.

"I think the way we bounced back, JJ sat us down in a room and we had some really frank discussions and from then our backs were to the wall so we knew we had to win and we had to win big.

"Our whole backend of the season has been brilliant."

A pair of thumping wins over Western Australia followed, handing Queensland precious bonus points, but rain still threatened to end their campaign when their final must-win match against NSW was washed out last Sunday.

They were handed a reprieve when the ACT upset South Australia, allowing them to retain second spot on the table, and given the theme of the season, those late-night COVID tests and yet another rain delay that saw the final begin an hour later than scheduled, barely registered as interruptions for the Queensland squad.

"There was a bit of rain but that probably settled us because we're so used to the rain this season," Redmayne said.

"To come out here and play the way we did today, I couldn't be prouder of the girls."

With the winners' trophy around her neck and her teammates basking in holding the Ruth Preddey Cup for the first time in the late afternoon sun at Junction Oval, Redmayne was adamant about one thing.

"It's so special. We're going through a really nice period in Queensland cricket at the moment," she said.

"Hopefully we can try to create a little (dynasty), try and replicate what NSW have done over the years.

"We've said this isn't the pinnacle for us, we want to be here in four or five years as well, being consistent, being in the final and winning titles."