The past week has been a blur in Georgia Voll’s life. In the middle of a renovation job for her Brisbane home and a spectacular Women’s National Cricket League campaign for Queensland Fire, the last thing the 21-year-old saw coming was a call-up to the Women’s Premier League in India.
“My manager randomly called me and said, ‘Oh well, put the tools down and be ready,’” Voll told Sportstar on the sidelines of the Lucknow leg of the league.
Travelling to India meant missing the WNCL final, which Queensland eventually lost to New South Wales. It was a punch in the gut to the Fire who were already without the services of Jess Jonassen (Delhi Capitals) and Grace Harris (UPW).
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Voll brought solidity up top with 301 runs in the season and an average of 60 and a top score of 98 in the six matches she played. This alongside a promising run in the Women’s Big Bash League where she swapped her long-time franchise Brisbane Heat for Sydney Thunder. She amassed 330 runs in 10 games with an impressive strike rate of 144.73. Thunder bowed out in the Challenger, falling to Voll’s old franchise – the Heat – which advanced to the final.
Voll’s first playing opportunity in the WPL would have come two days after the WNCL final. Naturally then, Queensland did its best to find a way to have her in the summit clash.
“There was a bit to chat back and forth in terms of ‘Could I leave?’ I think there was a flight potentially on the Monday morning at 2am and they (her teammates) were all telling me to get on that. But in the end, it wasn’t my decision,” Voll recalled.
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Rugby roots
In a nation that has produced an assembly line of elegant players, Voll’s game has copious amounts of brute force. One can trace that back to her rugby roots.
“Growing up in a country town (around Toowomba, around an hour and a half away from Brisbane), I was brought up to play sport. My dad was a rugby league player. Mum did a bit of everything. I dabbled in athletics too, with a bit of throwing with the discus, shot put and javelin.
Georgia Voll has debuted in all three international formats across the last two months, with her arrival in the Australian side just reward for her outstanding domestic form for Queensland and Sydney Thunder: https://t.co/GFBlYZXpG2#AusCricketAwardspic.twitter.com/LOjp1ZBlgc
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 3, 2025
“I actually started with netball, where there wasn’t enough contact. So I jumped across to where my brother was, playing rugby league. I stuck with that from when I was seven till I was about 16-17. However, there were no pathways for girls in rugby league and you had to stop around the age of 12. I needed to find another sport and I tried a lot of other things, cricket being among them.
“I advanced through athletics and cricket. Around the COVID-19 year, I landed a contract with Queensland and the Brisbane Heat. You can’t continue with contact sports when you have a cricket contract. So I made my choice.”
Within the Queensland setup, Voll found an early idol and mentor in Beth Mooney, who she admits she was intimidated plenty by in the beginning.
Georgia Voll with Beth Mooney
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
Georgia Voll with Beth Mooney
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
“The biggest influence would definitely be Moons. When I first moved down to Brisbane, she offered to throw me balls and I turned her down for a while. But she just kept asking. Her throwing me balls meant I’d have to do the same and I was terrified of her. Eventually, we would go to the gym and run together whenever we’re both in Brizzy.
“She’s very competitive and it keeps us both accountable. We push each other. She’s the influence I had coming through. Seeing how hard she works and what it takes to be the best at the highest level really spurred me on.”
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Fast learner
Voll’s first outing in India was UP Warriorz’s home game against Mooney’s Gujarat Giants. In the most anticlimactic of debuts, Voll – who has imperiously taken the international stage by storm with solid shows against India and England – was dismissed for a two-ball duck by Deandra Dottin off a ball going into her stumps.
Mooney watched on from behind the stumps as Voll debuted in the WPL. While the apprentice met with disappointment, she was taking notes aplenty from Mooney’s imperious unbeaten 96.
Voll adapted quickly with a fluent fifty against Mumbai Indians in the Warriorz’s next fixture, albeit in a losing cause. Warriorz switched up the batting order, sending Harris and Voll – a pair that’s played plenty of cricket together in Australia – to open.
It’s not everyday you see Harris being the more demure of two batters. Voll took on Shabnim Ismail and Nat Sciver-Brunt head on and, barring the cover and long off region, accessed every other part of the ground with the 12 boundaries she struck.
With Voll striking at 166.66, UP Warriorz were going at a healthy nine-runs-an-over before Sciver-Brunt angled one into her stumps. Voll, who had moved across to try and sweep was beaten and her stumps lit up.
“I’ve noticed that it’s (the wicket in India compared to strips in Australia) a little bit slower and lower. The pitches in Australia are quite bouncy and fast. So you’ve got to play as straight as you can for a bit longer,” she said after the game.
Everything’s connected
This might be Voll’s first trip to India, but it is this very country she took to the cleaners during a three-match ODI series in Brisbane and Perth last December. It was an initiation into the big leagues that ticked all the boxes.
Getting her debut cap from Mooney, scoring a century in just her second game, having her full family around (her mother was teary-eyed for most of it) at the venue she has played most of her cricket until then – the Allan Border Field – it was all perfect.
While she doesn’t have family travelling to watch her in India, Voll knows her folks are keeping close tabs on her run in the WPL, despite dealing with a cyclonic storm.
“The sacrifices that they’ve made for me is why I’m here. My dad had a serious injury last year at work and overcoming that and all the pressure that comes with it wasn’t easy. My dad would throw me balls back in Toowomba when I didn’t have access coming down to Brisbane. If I take a step back and reflect, being able to debut for Australia and having them all be there was the biggest moment. They’ve had to put aside a lot of things for me. Either put me first or put family first and they’ve been incredibly selfless to do that. It has always been for them.”
Life can bring Voll back to India later this year when the ODI World Cup comes calling. While she is thinking more about how to palette spicy food for the foreseeable future, being her explosive, unmovable self is going to make the Aussie setup rub its hands in glee as it sets out to defend its 50-over crown.
