Jess Jonassen

Jessica Louise Jonassen (born 5 November 1992) is an Australian cricketer from Rockhampton, Queensland.

Jonassen began playing for the Queensland Fire in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) during the 2008–09 season.

She attended high school at Emmaus College, Rockhampton, graduating in 2009.

When Jonassen was 10 or 11, she started playing cricket, initially at school and later for Rockhampton Brothers.

She played in boys' teams; at that time, there were no girls only cricket programs in rural Queensland.

Jonassen progressed through third grade and second grade levels, and eventually played a couple of A-grade games not long before she finished school and moved to Brisbane.

There, she played for University of Queensland.

During the 2010–11 season, Jonassen took her batting to a new level, scoring the fifth-most runs in the league with 228 at an average of 57 and earning Queensland's Player of the Year award.

A left-arm orthodox bowler, Jonassen has been a member of the national women's team since 2012, going on to win four ICC T20 World Cups while becoming the fourth woman to have taken 100 One Day International wickets for Australia.

Domestically, she is the current captain of both the Queensland Fire in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) and the Brisbane Heat in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL).

Jonassen was born in Emerald, a rural town in the Central Highlands Region of Queensland, but grew up approximately 270 km away in the coastal city of Rockhampton.

Jonassen made her international cricket debut in a Twenty20 match on 20 January 2012 against New Zealand at North Sydney Oval.

She took two wickets for 28 runs from four overs, with her first scalp being Suzie Bates who was caught by Lisa Sthalekar for 33.

In the second innings, Jonassen scored eight not out and put on an unbeaten 25-run partnership with Sarah Coyte to help Australia win by four wickets with one ball remaining.

On 25 January 2012, Jonassen made her One Day International debut at the Sydney Cricket Ground against New Zealand in a match that was abandoned during the 23rd over due to rain, bowling just nine deliveries and finishing with figures of 0/5.

She took her first ODI wicket four days later at Blacktown International Sportspark, helping Australia bowl out New Zealand for just 125 which led to a comfortable nine-wicket victory.

At the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, Jonassen played all five games and claimed five wickets at an average of 14.

She delivered her best performance of the tournament in the final against England, taking 3/25 from four overs with Australia winning the match by four runs.

Jonassen was named in Australia's squad for the 2013 Women's Cricket World Cup but, after failing to recover quickly enough from knee surgery on her medial meniscus in early January, she was withdrawn days before the team traveled to India for the tournament.

On 20 August 2013, Jonassen made a strong return to international cricket by "(spinning) Australia to victory" at Lord's in the first ODI of the 2013 Women's Ashes.

She took 4/38 from 8.3 overs in the 27-run win and, alongside fellow spinner Erin Osborne, orchestrated a batting collapse as England fell from 1/99 to 176 all out in the space of 20 overs.

She won the same award again, as well as the league-wide Player of the Year title, for the 2014–15 season in which she took the second-most wickets (eleven at an average of 13.36) and scored 197 runs at 49.25 despite missing several games due to injury.

At the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, Jonassen played all six matches and took six wickets at an average of 19.16.

She bowled tidily in the final against England, finishing with figures of 0/16 from four overs before Australia went on to win by six wickets to claim another world championship.

Her role within the team during the tournament also consisted of being elevated to an opening batter for the semi-final and final.

She continued in that position throughout Australia's next seven T20I matches, peaking with back-to-back Player of the Match performances against the West Indies in which she scored 46 off 51 balls on 2 November in a four-wicket win at North Sydney Oval and 47 off 39 balls on 5 November in an 86-run victory at Adelaide Oval.

After completing a law degree at Griffith University in 2015, Jonassen continued her studies by undertaking a graduate certificate in forensic mental health.

Making her WNCL debut against the New South Wales Breakers just three weeks after her 16th birthday (scoring 12 not out off 16 balls and taking 0/21 from three overs in an eight-wicket loss), she went on to play every game of the season and finished with twelve wickets at an average of 19.83.

She took the fourth-most wickets during the 2016–17 season (18 at an average of 15.88), before the Heat were knocked out of the tournament via a crushing nine-wicket semi-final loss to the Perth Scorchers at the WACA.

Two seasons later, Jonassen was at the centre of an iconic moment during the first WBBL|04 semi-final at Drummoyne Oval against the Sydney Thunder, bowling the final delivery of the match to Nicola Carey who initially appeared to hit the ball for a game-winning six until an unlikely catch by Haidee Birkett was taken metres inside the boundary rope.

On the following weekend in the final against the Sydney Sixers, Jonassen contributed 1/28 from four overs as the Heat went on to win by three wickets to claim their maiden championship.

Jonassen enjoyed an outstanding WBBL|05 campaign, notably increasing her output with the bat (scoring 419 runs at an average of 38.09) for which she credited an "honest conversation" with new coach Ashley Noffke.

She also took the second-most wickets in the league with 22 at an average of 18.31 and won the Heat's Most Valuable Player award.

In a four-wicket semi-final win over the Melbourne Renegades at Allan Border Field, Jonassen earned Player of the Match honours by taking 1/25 and scoring 38 off 23 balls.

The following day, in the final against the Adelaide Strikers, she finished with match best bowling figures of 2/30 and contributed 33 runs.

The Heat won by six wickets, thus becoming back-to-back champions.

Ahead of the 2020–21 season, Jonassen assumed the captaincy of Queensland, taking over from the retired Kirby Short.

Jonassen signed with her local Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) team, the Brisbane Heat, as a marquee player for the competition's inaugural season.

In July 2020, Jonassen signed a new contract to stay at Brisbane for another three years.

The Heat also announced she would captain the team for WBBL|06.