South Australia Women's captain Jemma Barsby will return to action for the first time in 2025 as SA chases its first WNCL title in nine years.
Second placed South Australia will face WA in Perth across two legs to complete the WNCL minor round. A pair of victories will all but guarantee SA punches a ticket to the final on Sunday, March 2.
Barsby has recovered from a bizarre hip injury not commonly diagnosed in professional cricketers.
“It’s an injury seen in marathon runners, and I definitely don’t do marathons,” she said.
“I guess I like to keep the physios on their toes and give them something to look at other than soft tissue injuries.
“I was on crutches for just over a week and then slowly onto some step counts to get the load back up to see how it reacts.
“We’ve got potentially three more games and I’m confident it will hold up.”
The skipper has missed the last four WNCL matches and conceded while sidelined she followed her team like a mother watches her child crossing a busy road.
“I’ve been screaming at the tv,” she said.
“It’s a rollercoaster of emotions. Especially the second game in Sydney, which came down to the last over and I didn’t feel like we deserved to have our season end there.”
SA won that match on the back of a composed 90 from stand-in captain Bridget Patterson, snapping a three-game losing streak and keeping the team on track for a third WNCL final in four summers.
“We spoke about how we want to play an aggressive brand of cricket and when you’re winning it’s all good,” Barsby said.
“But you lose a few and then I guess a few doubts start to creep in.
“So for us to be able to continue to play that style of cricket and hold our composure against New South Wales and get over the line, it’s pretty exciting for where we are at and hopefully we can continue to grow on that.”
Western Australia currently sits bottom and out of finals contention. But Barsby is wary of pencilling in the victories required to make the final.
“Cricket can bring you back down to earth pretty quickly,” she said.
“(WA batters) Chloe Piparo and Maddie Darke haven’t really scored runs so they’re due at any time. Hopefully it’s not this week.
“You’ve gotta take it as it is and play every ball and not go in thinking you’re just going to win the game.”
SA meets WA at the WACA Ground tomorrow before the sides battle again at the same venue on Friday.