Speedster Cheatle primed for final

In form and on a roll, New South Wales quick Lauren Cheatle could be the key to helping her team claim an incredible 20th Women’s National Cricket League title this weekend.

Cheatle will play in just her second 50-over domestic final when NSW meet Queensland at North Sydney Oval on Saturday, despite the Breakers making every WNCL final since she made her debut in late 2015 (and indeed, every final in the competition’s 23-year history).

The left-arm quick was part of the Breakers XI which suffered a 54-run defeat to South Australia in the 2015-16 final – one of only three deciders they’ve lost – and missed large chunks of the next two seasons due to injury.

But the 20-year-old has hit form at the right time, collecting figures of 2-24 and 4-42 across two matches last weekend and she couldn’t be happier to have fortune turning her way in time for the final after a torrid run of injuries.

“I haven’t played that many games for the Breakers, so to be able to get out there and perform was really nice,” Cheatle said on Wednesday.

“It made me feel really good that all the hard work I’ve put in to get there was worth it.

“I didn’t bowl as many overs in the WBBL as I would have liked but I was bowling a lot in the nets so I think I had a good amount of bowling behind me and I was lucky enough to get a few overs in at the weekend and got a few wickets on the board, which was nice.”

Since making her Australian debut aged 17 in early 2016 Cheatle has been hit by a succession of frustrating setbacks.

She was sidelined for much of the 2016-17 season due to illness, before she suffered a shoulder injury while training for a T20I series against New Zealand in early 2017.

Cheatle returned to make her ODI debut in Auckland in February 2017 and earned a place in Australia’s preliminary 2017 World Cup squad, only to be ruled out of the tournament when it was determined she required a shoulder reconstruction.

Undergoing that surgery in May 2017, she began bowling again last August and was pushing for a place in Australia’s XI during the Women’s Ashes last summer when it was discovered she’d sustained a back stress fracture, an injury that ruled her out of the remainder of the season.

“I went through a stage where I wasn’t liking cricket as much as I should and I was lucky to get through that particularly through the support of Cricket NSW, I was really lucky to have those people around me," she said.

“To take those wickets at the weekend was really nice and it was all worth it.”

Cheatle resumed bowling during the 2018 winter and, after spending a full preseason with the NSW Breakers and the National Performance Squad in Brisbane, had herself primed for the 2018-19 summer.

The left-armer hasn’t played for Australia since March 2017, but there’s no doubt she remains on the radar of Australian selectors, given her presence in the National Performance Squad and her unique capabilities as the country’s top female left-arm quick.

The Australian selectors will meet shortly to pick their ODI squad to meet New Zealand in three matches on home soil beginning February 22, and another strong showing in Saturday’s final could put Cheatle firmly in the frame.

“(My body’s) feeling really good, it’s holding up really well and I feel really good, so I can’t ask for much more than that really,” Cheatle told cricket.com.au last month.

CommBank ODIs v NZ 

February 22: First ODI, WACA Ground, Perth

February 24: Second ODI, Karen Rolton Oval, Adelaide

March 3: Third ODI, Junction Oval, Melbourne