ACT Meteors sign 26-year-old former Australia seamer on a two-year deal as SA Scorpions, defending champs Tasmania Tigers and NSW Breakers also announce changes for 2022-23 season
Ferling on the move as quartet name WNCL squads
Former Aussie quick and international cricket commentator Holly Ferling has swapped the Sunshine State for the nation's capital, signing a two-year deal with the ACT Meteors.
Ferling, 26, represented the country 34 times between 2013 and 2016, debuting as a 17-year-old during Australia's victorious ODI World Cup campaign in India in 2013.
She made her Test and T20I debuts later that year in August – becoming one of only three Australian women to earn a Baggy Green before their 18th birthday alongside Peggy Antonio and Ellyse Perry – and claimed 32 international wickets in her three Tests, 22 ODIs and nine T20Is.
The right-arm seamer joins ACT from Queensland Fire where she juggles her playing commitments with commentary and presenting for 7Cricket, appearing across their coverage of men's Tests, women's internationals and the KFC BBL.
Ferling also played with Melbourne Renegades in last season's Weber WBBL but found it tough going with the ball, unable to take a wicket in her eight matches for the tournament.
"Whilst she is an extremely accomplished cricketer, having made 34 appearances for Australia across all formats, she is also a wonderful leader and will be a great mentor for some of our younger players," Meteors head coach Jono Dean said.
Ferling is one of four changes to the ACT squad for the 2022-23 season as they look to attain for missing the WNCL final by one point in March.
Opening batter and Adelaide Strikers power-hitter Katie Mack, who was the second-leading run scorer in WBBL|07 with 513 and featured in the Women's A series against England last summer, also signed a new three-year deal that will keep her at the Meteors until the end of the 2024-25 season.
ACT Meteors 2022-23 contract list: Angela Reakes, Katie Mack, Kayla Burton, Gabrielle Sutcliffe, Chloe Rafferty, Carly Leeson, Matilda Lugg, Olivia Porter, Rebecca Carter, Amy Yates, Zoe Cooke, Holly Ferling, Alisha Bates, Angelina Genford, Annie Wikman
Ins: Holly Ferling (Queensland), Alisha Bates, Annie Wikman, Angelina Genford. Outs: Erin Osborne (retired), Madeline Penna (South Australia), Nicola Hancock (delisted), Erica Kershaw (delisted)
Teenage fast bowling allrounder Angelina Genford – who made her WBBL debut for the Hobart Hurricanes in November – earned her first WNCL contract after strong performances for Bankstown in the NSW Premier Cricket and NSW Metro at the U19 National Championships in April.
Annie Wikman, who hails from the same Queensland Premier club as Ferling – Western Suburbs – and left-arm spinner Alisha Bates also earned full contracts for the first time after they both made their debuts for ACT during the 2021-22 season.
ACT are set to announce a new captain in coming weeks as current skipper Angela Reakes takes maternity leave with her first child due in August, but under Australian cricket's paternity leave she will keep her roster spot, meaning the Meteors have a contracted player list of 15 instead of the regular 14 next summer.
Australian great and former Meteors captain Erin Osborne has retired, while Madeline Penna has signed with South Australia and Nicola Hancock and Erica Kershaw were not offered new contracts.
Penna, a powerful right-handed batter and emerging leg-spinner, will reunite with SA Scorpions coaches Luke Williams and Jude Coleman full-time having represented the Adelaide Strikers since 2020-21.
The 21-year-old has 340 runs across 14 WNCL appearances since making her debut for the ACT in 2019, including a top score of 118 not out against Western Australia in March 2021.
"I'm very grateful to be joining the Scorpions and really excited to be working alongside Luke and Jude again," Penna said.
"I can't wait to get to Adelaide, and I'm really looking forward to getting the chance to play alongside some of the Strikers girls … and I'm excited to see what we can achieve next season."
South Australia Scorpions 2022-23 contract list: Jemma Barsby, Sam Betts, Darcie Brown*, Emma de Broughe, Josie Dooley, Ellie Falconer, Paris Hall, Brooke Harris, Tahlia McGrath*, Annie O'Neil, Bridget Patterson, Madeline Penna, Kate Peterson, Megan Schutt*, Courtney Webb, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Ella Wilson. * Cricket Australia contract
Ins: Madeline Penna, Ella Wilson, Paris Hall. Outs: Tegan McPharlin (retired), Alex Price (delisted), Eliza Doddridge (delisted)
The Scorpions have also added local young guns Ella Wilson and Paris Hall to their squad.
Wilson, a tall fast bowler and middle-order batter who captained South Australia's under-19 team to the final at last month's national championships, was recruited from Glenelg, while top-order batter Hall impressed for West Torrens last season with the fourth-highest run tally across the SA Premier competition with 236 at 39 in six matches.
Former captain Tegan McPharlin retires after 15 years and 86 games for the Scorpions, which included their drought-breaking 2015-16 WNCL title, finishing as the state's fourth-most capped women's player and one of nine South Australian women to score 1000 runs.
Alex Price and Eliza Doddridge were delisted.
WNCL champions Tasmania have made four changes to their list for 2022-23, headlined by the recruitment of NSW 21-year-old young gun Rachel Trenaman.
A top-order batter, Trenaman impressed on her return from an ACL injury last season with an unbeaten 90 against WA in March after six months on the sidelines. She had hit 304 at an average of 43 in the 2020-21 season. She joined the Hurricanes ahead of WBBL|07 on a two-year deal and will now also play WNCL with Tasmania.
Local swing-bowling prodigy Clare Scott has earned a contract after impressing when called up to the Tigers squad at the back end of last summer, while promising young pace bowlers Callie Wilson from South Australia and Queensland left-armer Julia Cavanough are the other new faces on the list.
Tasmania Tigers 2022-23 contract list: Nicola Carey*, Julia Cavanough, Maisy Gibson, Heather Graham, Emma Manix-Geeves, Sasha Moloney, Clare Scott, Hayley Silver-Holmes, Amy Smith, Naomi Stalenberg, Molly Strano, Emma Thompson, Rachel Trenaman, Elyse Villani, Callie Wilson. * Cricket Australia contract
Ins: Rachel Trenaman, Clare Scott, Callie Wilson, Julia Cavanough. Outs: Corinne Hall (retired), Chloe Abel, Rachel Priest, Emily Smith, Belinda Vakarewa
Emma Thompson returns to playing after a year off with maternity leave while her replacement last summer, Emma Manix-Geeves, has signed a new two-year deal after capping a breakout season with a maiden, unbeaten ton in the WNCL final.
Tigers head coach Salliann Beams said there had been "some tough decisions" made with Chloe Abel, Rachel Priest, Emily Smith and Belinda Vakarewa all not returning next summer, while Corinne Hall has retired.
"It's always so hard when you only have 14 contracts to give out when you know how much talent there is out there, so although we had to make some tough decisions, I'm really happy with how things are shaping up for next season," Beams said.
"I think we have a really good combination of youth and experience. Some of the names on our list are well known in our sport, so we know they can perform, but what's invaluable with that is the experience and knowledge they can pass on to the younger players."
Trenaman's move to Tasmania saw the NSW Breakers make just one change to their contract list for 2022-23 with allrounder Saskia Horley returning to the squad.
Horley, 22, first played for the Breakers as a 17-year-old in 2017 but after two challenging years at the top domestic level she lost her contract, as well as her Sydney Thunder WBBL contract.
She earned her spot back as the leading run-scorer in NSW Premier Cricket last summer with 646 at 92 for Manly, playing two WNCL matches for NSW at the back end of the 2021-22 season.
"Losing my contract was the best thing that could have happened to me," Horley said.
"I was suddenly outside the professional cricket 'bubble'. I worked at an RSL club until four in the morning, I started a cricket coaching business.
"I had to work really hard (and) I matured a lot."
Horley is currently playing for Middlesex in the county women's competition, as well as grade cricket in a local men's competition in the UK and even played a game a Lord's with the Marylebone Cricket Club.
NSW Breakers 2022-23 contract list: Jade Allen, Maitlan Brown, Erin Burns, Stella Campbell, Lauren Cheatle, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner*, Rachael Haynes*, Alyssa Healy*, Saskia Horley, Emma Hughes, Sammy Jo-Johnson, Anika Learoyd, Phoebe Litchfield, Claire Moore, Lauren Smith, Tahlia Wilson. * Cricket Australia contract
Ins: Saskia Horley. Outs: Rachel Trenaman (Tasmania)