CUP GLORY BECKONS AFTER HARD KNOCKS
STAR Queensland all-rounder Jess Jonassen has a steely focus in her eyes.
After missing out on Australia’s T20 World Cup win in 2018 due to a knee injury, the 27-year-old is more determined than ever to achieve glory in the green and gold.
Her contribution to the side could be more important than ever at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which begins next Friday in Sydney.
In Australia’s timely 11-run tri-series final win over India earlier this week, left-arm orthodox spinner Jonassen posted the second-best bowling figures by an Australian woman in a T20 international in taking 5-12 from four overs (behind Molly Strano’s 5-10 against New Zealand in 2017).
Having rightly been named player of the match, Jonassen will be looking to continue that form when she walks on to Allan Border Field today in Australia’s World Cup warm-up match against the West Indies.
It’s a happy homecoming for Jonassen, who is the first to admit she’s been knocked around by cricket.
She’s battled knee injuries and has been taken to some dark places in her mind, but has come out the other side a more determined, balanced cricketer.
“Cricket’s a funny one. You’re part of a team, but you’re individuals as well,” she said.
“It’s that aspect for me that was probably the final straw, in the sense that I needed to regain balance in my life away from cricket and that’s probably the biggest thing to come out of it (her 2018 injury) … making sure I’m fresh when I need to be and I’ve got things outside cricket that are occupying my mind.”
Jonassen has played 73 international T20 games since debuting in 2012, but wasn’t part of the XI that tasted World T20 victory in 2018.
Instead she was carrying the drinks, having failed to fully recover from a torn meniscus.
“It was a massive achievement just to get on the plane to go to the Caribbean in 2018,” she said.