Melbourne [Australia], April 17 (ANI): Right-hand batter Georgia Voll and all-rounder Tess Flintoff have earned their first central contracts for the national side as Cricket Australia revealed their list of 18 contracted players for the 2025/26 season, as per the ICC.
Voll only made her international debut in December, but the 21-year-old already has an ODI century to her name and was earlier this week named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for March due to her efforts with the bat in New Zealand.
While Voll received a contract upgrade after making her debut at the end of last year, this is the first time the hard-hitting right-hander has been named on the initial contract list by Cricket Australia.
While Voll’s inclusion was expected, Australia’s decision to include all-rounder Tess Flintoff on the list of 18 players with contracts was somewhat of a surprise, given that the 22-year-old has yet to feature at the international level.
Flintoff won a contract after some good performances for Australia A during the recent series against England A. The seamer has always been on the selectors’ radar, given that she was also called into Australia’s squad during their tour of Ireland in 2023.
The biggest exclusion from the contract list was the surprise omission of veteran all-rounder Jess Jonassen. Despite being a six-time World Cup winner and regularly performing well at the domestic level around the world, she hasn’t played for Australia since the end of 2023.
Australia selector Shawn Flegler said the promotion of Voll and Flintoff for the first time was well deserved and noted that there is still opportunities for Jonassen and those players outside the contract list to feature for Australia
“Tess is an exciting young player who we can see having a long future in the green and gold. Having overcome injury, we’re looking forward to seeing her fit and firing throughout summer, which adds further depth to our pace-bowling stocks. Georgia has made a sensational start to her international career, showing her immense talent from the onset and playing a pivotal role for the team in the absence of Alyssa Healy at the top of the order,” Flegler said as quoted by the ICC.
“Her ability to adapt to the various formats has been impressive and will come into play with an ODI World Cup later this year and a multi-format series against India in the new year. While Jess Jonassen has not been included on this year’s list, we’re always keeping an eye on players outside of the squad, and she is no exception,” Flegler added.
Australia’s contracted women’s players 2025/26: Darcie Brown, Tess Flintoff, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. (ANI)
