Australia's left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen became the number one ranked limited-overs bowler at the age of just 19.
Showing her class
Jonassen was under a bit of pressure leading up to the 2022 women's ODI World Cup, coming back from injury and not being able to perform to the same level. With new players coming into the side, even her place in the XI was not guaranteed.
However, Jess Jonassen reiterated that there is no substitute for quality as she had a big impact in the world cup, finishing as the third-highest wicket-taker in the competition and the highest for Australia with 13 wickets from 8 matches at an average of 18.84 and an economy rate of 4.04.
The journey
"The earliest memories for me were not one of the traditional type of beginnings for cricket. I didn't have brothers or siblings that wanted to play cricket with me in the backyard. For me, it was being in the cricket nets with my dad up in Rockhampton and we would be up there and be in the nets for hours and hours. He would bowl every type of delivery at me to bat and then it would be my turn to bowl to him. I guess that would be my first and even some of my fondest memories," Jess Jonassen poured her heart out in a lovely chat.
"I came into the national limited overs side in 2012 aged 19 and became the No.1 bowler in the world in that format, which felt like a dream. It was amazing to play alongside players like Lisa Sthalekar, Leah Poulton and others, who I’d been idolising since I was 14 or 15. My cap presentation, by Mel Jones, started things off on the right foot. Mel said some words I really appreciated. I’d already had two knee operations by that stage and to hear Mel label me ‘resilient’ meant so much. It was nice to know that Mel was aware of the journey I’d been on to get to that point."
Impressive numbers
The 29-year-old spinner had made her debut against New Zealand at Sydney in January 2012 and has been going from strength to strength from then on.
At the time of writing this article, she had picked up 131 wickets from 85 Internationals at an average of 19.67 and an economy rate of 3.95.
The spinner also has 74 wickets from 87 T20 Internationals at an average of 21.43 and an economy rate of 5.47.
