Victoria locked in to host Queensland in one-day final

The Women’s National Cricket League final will go ahead as scheduled at Melbourne’s Junction Oval on Saturday, despite a suggestion from Cricket Victoria that the game be postponed until April to allow members of the Australia squad currently touring New Zealand to take part and ensure a full-strength contest.

Victoria will meet Queensland in the domestic 50-over decider, a team they defeated by six wickets earlier in the season, but will head in as underdogs despite finishing on top of the table, with six Australia squad members – Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck and Molly Strano – in New Zealand, while Annabel Sutherland is sidelined through injury.

Queensland are without captain Jess Jonassen and opening batter Beth Mooney, who are also part of the 17-player squad for three T20Is and three ODIs starting on March 28 and ending on April 10.

Queensland's spot in the final was confirmed late on Sunday night when South Australia's narrow, final-over defeat to the ACT Meteors ensured they would retain second spot on the table.

Speaking to cricket.com.au last week, Victoria coach Lachie Stevens confirmed the organisation had sounded out Cricket Australia around the possibility of shifting the game to allow the nine Australian players to be part of what would have been a star-studded showdown.

A Cricket Australia spokesperson confirmed the final – which will be broadcast on Foxtel and Kayo for the first time, as well as being streamed live and free on the CA Live app and cricket.com.au – would go ahead as scheduled on March 27 starting at 10am AEDT.

However, Stevens also made it clear he wasn’t dwelling on the absence of the international stars, instead focusing on preparing those available for the final, a group that includes league leading run-scorer Elyse Villani and Irish star Kim Garth.

He added that losing players to international cricket, something that is the norm in men’s domestic cricket, was increasingly part and parcel of the women’s domestic game.

The 2019-20 final saw Western Australia defeat a NSW side missing five T20 World Cup squad members, to claim their first title.

"It’s just one of those things in domestic cricket … though there’s probably not too many teams that lose six players and another to injury as well," Stevens said ahead of Victoria’s matches in Perth.

"It’d be lovely to have your full playing roster available, but that’s just not the way it works and what it does is give opportunities for new people to come and show their wares, and that’s the exciting part from our point of view.

"It’s a difficult ask for the group that’s left behind to come in, and no one is expecting them to play the same way that team’s been playing (until now), but we’re hoping they get in and enjoy the opportunity and compete as hard as they can.

"There’s players out there who get a minimal crack or no crack at all so I’m really looking forward to watching a few of these players."

Originally, Australia had been penciled in to tour New Zealand earlier in the year, which would have allowed squad members to return in time for the end of the regular WNCL season and the final, but the series was pushed back due to New Zealand Government restrictions on the number of sporting teams able to access quarantine hotel facilities in the country at any one time.

However, international players being absent for the bulk of the regular season would likely have changed the make-up of the table and could have potentially produced two entirely different finalists.

In addition to Villani and Garth, Saturday’s final will allow Victoria to showcase some of their most promising young talent, including allrounders Tess Flintoff and Lucy Cripps, wicketkeeper Nicole Faltum and spinners Sophie Day and Ella Hayward.

Queensland, meanwhile, will be led by in-form opener Georgia Redmayne, while they also count hard-hitting batters Laura Kimmince and Grace Harris, and former Australia quick Holly Ferling, among their number.

Teenagers Georgia Voll and Charli Knott have also impressed this year, with Voll opening alongside first Mooney, then Redmayne, and Knott scoring a half-century after being promoted to No.3.

"We invest a lot of time into them," Queensland coach Ashley Noffke said of his young talent.

"You know you need a full squad to win a title so I’m really excited for those younger players to come out and show the quality they have.

"Our group has grown a lot over the last couple of years in my opinion."