JessJonassen

Personal Details

Full Name

Jess Louise Jonassen

Age

34

Country

Australia

Born

5/10/1992

Birthplace

Emerald, Queensland

Player Story

Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen showed great potential from an early age, captaining Queensland’s Under-15 girls team to the national title for the first time in 2006-07, while also claiming the Player of the Tournament. A frequent underage representative, she was selected in the Australia A Women's squad at the age of 15. Hailing from Rockhampton, Jonassen collected impressive bowling figures for the Queensland Fire at domestic level and, at just 18 years of age, the spinner won Queensland Fire’s Player of the Year. Jonassen was elevated up the batting order in 2010-11 to number three and finished the season as the second-highest run scorer for her state in the WT20 competition, which included a top score of 84 not out. She also claimed 11 wickets that season. In her first three months of international cricket, the then 20-year-old claimed five and four wickets in ODI and T20I cricket respectively. She continued her strong international showing at the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. After a solid tournament of economical bowling, she claimed career-best T20 figures in the final, taking 3-25 in Australia's victory over England. Named women's domestic player of the year after an outstanding 2014-15 season, Jonassen attracted attention around the cricket world when she scored 99 on Test debut in the Women's Ashes in 2015 and was named Player of the Match. Jonassen claimed her first WBBL title in 2019 after playing a vital role in Brisbane Heat's 2018-19 championship winning team, and helped them back it up with a Heat repeat a season later. An integral part of Australia's 2020 and 2023 T20 World Cup and 2022 World Cup victories, Jonassen cemented her reputation as one of the world's premier white-ball bowlers. In July 2023, Jonassen moved past Cathryn Fitzpatrick to become Australia's third highest wicket taker across all formats.  While she fell out of favour with national selectors later the same year, Jonassen continued to dominate in domestic leagues around the globe.