Voll, Flintoff earn maiden CA central contract, Jonassen misses out

Melbourne, April 17 (IANS) Young batter Georgia Voll and uncapped bowling all-rounder Tess Flintoff have been awarded their first Cricket Australia central contracts.

Cricket Australia on Thursday announced a 18-player central contract list which saw six-time World Cup winning allrounder Jess Jonassen being a high profile ommison.

Voll's remarkable recent rise has continued with the in-form opener winning a national contract for the first time as Australia revealed their list of 18 contracted players for the 2025/26 season.

She 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.

Voll had earnt an upgrade to a national deal after making her debut across all formats across the 2024-25 summer, but is the first time the right-hander has been named on the initial contract list by Cricket Australia.

Flintoff wins a contract on the back of some good performances for Australia A during the recent series against England A, while the seamer has always been on the radar of selectors given she was also called into Australia's squad during their tour of Ireland in 2023.

Flintoff has yet to debut at the highest level but was called into the Australian squad as injury cover during the 2023 ODI tour of Ireland and has long been earmarked as a player to watch.

The 22-year-old pace-bowling allrounder has been a regular at Australia A level, and in 2022 she hit the fastest ever WBBL half-century off 16 balls for Melbourne Stars.

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 contact 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. 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 said.

The biggest exclusion from the contract list was the surprise omission of veteran all-rounder Jonassen, who has regularly performed well at domestic level around the world.

Jonassen, who is Australia's most prolific female white-ball spinner, last played international cricket in October 2023 and was last included in a squad in early 2024.

The 32-year-old played an enormous role in Australia's success since debuting in 2012, taking 244 wickets in 205 matches across all formats.

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

--IANS

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