Tasmanian Tigers clinch first-ever WNCL title

WNCL) as they defeated South Australian Scorpions in the summit clash by nine wickets to bag their first-ever WNCL title on Sunday (March 27).

Chasing 243, at the Blundstone Arena in Hobart, Tigers reached the target with ease as batters Emma Manix-Geeves and Elyse Villani struck unbeaten centuries.

Tigers skipper Villani was adjudged the player of the match for her match-winning century  111 not out off 124 balls. She paced the run chase well with Manix-Geeves and anchored the Tigers to a memorable win. The duo of Villani and Manix-Geeves put on an unbeaten 205-run stand together.

Scorpions had solitary success in the form of Rachel Priest. Priest was dismissed at the score of 20 by Samantha Betts.

Earlier in the day, Scorpions won the toss and elected to bat first. The first four batters for Scorpions got starts and turned out to be the major contributors to their scorecard.

Openers Bridget Patterson and Emma de Broughe provided a decent start to Scorpions as they put together 42 runs. After the South Australia side lost both their openers, the two middle-order batters in Courtney Webb and Josephine Dooley provided the stability to their innings.

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The 113-run stand between Webb and Dooley helped South Australia to put 242 runs on the board. While Webb scored 88 runs off 78 balls, Dooley scored 66 off 82 balls.

Tasmania were the best side throughout the course of the tournament as they finished the group stage on top with seven wins from eight games. The only game they lost was against Queensland as they failed to chase down 266 runs and fell short by 66 runs.

The final saw the completion of a highly successful season that had 29 matches and were organised without any disruption despite the challenges of COVID-19.

Brief Scores: South Australian Scorpions 242/8 in 50 overs (Courtney Webb 88, Josie Dooley 66; Amy Smith 3/33, Molly Strano 3/39) lost to Tasmanian Tigers 245/1 in 47.4 overs ( Elyse Villani 111*, Emma Manix-Geeves 104*; Samantha Betts 1/42) by nine wickets. POTM: Elyse Villani