The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars have continued to fly the flag for Australian cricket and what a win it was in the one-off Ashes Test in Sydney.

After our draw and subsequent loss of the Ashes in England in 2009, it was great to see the urn travel down-under. Great effort by the whole team particularly Rene (Fezzy) Farrell with her stunning hat-trick and Sarah (Sticksy) Elliott, who was the backbone of the second innings that got the team home. Very well done girls!

I was lucky enough to spend most part of a week in Melbourne and Canberra with the team throughout their Twenty20 series and was impressed with some of the junior talent that is a part of our team. Meg Lanning and Sarah Coyte debuted for Australia and did an amazing job to slot into the key roles of opening bat and change bowlers respectively. These two players have the talent and dedication to play cricket for their states and Australia for many years.

I also had a chance to spend some time training with the group and continuing my rehab. Being around such a group of talented and hard working players has only motivated me to work harder and get back in the treasured green and gold.

My injury rehab is progressing well, so much that I was fortunate to play for Queensland against the Tassie Roar in Hobart. I had not been to Tasmania before and was very excited by the trip and the awesome opportunity to play three matches at Bellerive Oval.

Our first Twenty20 match was played as the curtain raiser to the KFC Big Bash game between the Tassie and WA men. We were fortunate to have quite a large crowd witness our match and many saw a close tussle between our two sides.

Fortunately for us, we got our first win on the board for the season in the T20 competition, which was a relief and reward for a season of hard toil.

We stayed around after to watch George Bailey and Mark Cosgrove club some balls onto the hill and everyone enjoyed the evening. Tasmanian cricket must be congratulated on their efforts to support and promote their Tassie Roar side and the improvements in the Tasmanian side since they first entered the competition is a credit to the hard work of Jade Selby and his team down south.

Leading into February, we approach the end of the WNCL season once again and another final series between NSW and Victoria. Both teams have been dominanting all year and have a number of talented players who could do the job in the finals, so they should be two very closely fought games. Good luck to both sides.

As the Aussie women’s team has just returned from the Ashes series tour for a short break, they are preparing once again to travel to New Zealand and fight for the Rosebowl Series. The six game series should provide some close games but the Stars will be looking to bring home the trophy and complete a relatively successful summer cricket series.

Good luck girls!