This time, Sharks primed for feeding frenzy

HAVING stumbled at the semi-final stage in the past three seasons South HobartSandy Bay is determined to go all the way in tomorrow’s CTPL Women’s Twenty20 grand final.

The Sharks snapped their final four hoodoo by easily accounting for minor premier Clarence, and will vie for their first T20 crown against Kingborough at Queenborough.

Bolstered by the inclusions of WBBL captains Corinne Hall and Isobel Joyce, the Sharks will roll out a strong batting line-up, with skipper Linsey Da Costa confident a lack of grand final experience won’t affect her side.

“I don’t think so, finals pressure is something a bit different but having the experience of ‘Izzy’, ‘Crinny’ and myself to help the younger players through, I think we will be OK,” Da Costa said.

“We have worked really hard over the past four, five, six years to get to semi-finals and it has always just been out of our reach. We are even more hungry to get that final win, the job is not done yet.”

Standing in the way of the Sharks is a Knights outfit that returned to the finals this season for the first time since 2013-14.

Kingborough claimed backto-back premierships in 201112 and 2012-13 and finished runner-up the following year, before struggling to find consistency until this campaign.

With captain Emily Divin — who announced her retirement from WNCL level on Thursday — and Kristy Coppleman leading the way with the bat and two-time Fazackerley medallist Lauren Hepburn in strong form with the ball, the Knights will start slight favourites to add a third title to the cabinet.

“We have a really great group of girls, we have good depth across the squad and have performed consistently throughout the year,” Divin said. “They have some fantastic players we are going to have to try to combat, but I think if we stick with our plans … we are hopeful we can come out with a win.

“For us it is our bowling attack, we have been really consistent with our bowlers all year and have defended totals and kept teams to low scores.”

The women’s final starts at 2.30pm, with the girls’ under17 decider between North Hobart and South HobartSandy Bay starting at 11.30am.