The Bears' Women's Top 5 for 2025/26

At the UTS North Sydney Bears' Presentation Night on 24 April 2026, we named our Women's Top 5 of 2025/26, following the identification of the People + Culture Strategies Player of the Round and Top 5 in every week of the season.

The season's Top 5 were the strongest contributors on a statistical per match basis, and all featured multiple times as Player of the Round and in the round-by-round top 5s.

Opening up are Sharon Julien and Bernadette Robson.

Sharon was our highest run-scorer and second highest wicket-taker of the year on her return to the Bears. She bookended the season with two demolitions of Campbelltown-Camden: 103 for Brewer Shield in a T20 at Tunks Park and 5/26 in a Second Grade 50-over win at Raby.

Bernie started the season in Third Grade, but soon made a place in Second Grade her own, lending vital experience to our young side. Her top score was 73 in an extraordinary Third Grade win over Parramatta, but perhaps the most memorable performance was 46* to steer Second Grade to a right win over St George-Sutherland with fellow veteran, Anu Raj, chasing 169 from the perilous position of 7/133.

Making up the top 5 are all-rounder, Varada Vinay, and bowling stars, Zahra Dhillon and Anna Buckle.

Varada' 20 wickets, of which 18 were taken in Second Grade came at fewer than 18 apiece, and she backed it up with 266 runs in the top order. Varada was one of our most consistent performers with the ball - in 18 bowling innings for the season, she was wicketless in only five and kept it tight every time.

Zahra, the Brewer Shield Player of the Year, took a phenomenal 29 wickets at just 11.69 and was the top wicket-taker in the whole competition's regular season. She took 4 wickets in an innings no fewer than four times with a best of 4/15 against Sydney University.

Anna joined us for the season from Sussex CCC in England and made a huge impact on and off the pitch. She bowled the house down in Second Grade, taking 22 wickets at 16.32, and brought a deep knowledge of the game, commitment composure, focus and determination that lifted the team into our eventual sixth place. Anna will always be a Bear and is welcome back any time!