Tassie indoor cricket in comeback

TASMANIA has defied a 15year absence at the top level of indoor cricket to defeat South Australia to claim the inaugural Lonergan-Skeggs Shield.

John Lonergan (SA) and Leon Skeggs (Tas) are both considered greats in their respective indoor cricket communities and the two states came together to launch the shield in their honour.

The Tasmanian squad that travelled to Adelaide last weekend contained five players with national carnival experience and a host of talented juniors, including outdoor rising stars Mitch Owen and Josh Henley.

The side first competed in the South Australian Super League, where it went through the round-robin stage undefeated in four matches to meet South Australia Blue in the grand final.

It was the hosts who turned the tables in the decider, winning the match 86 runs to 55 after a superb effort with the ball where they restricted the visitors to just 18 runs in the last 12 overs after Tasmanian openers Martin Stirling and Nathan Muir put on 37 in their four overs.

Attention turned swiftly to the major game for the weekend which was the Lonergan-Skeggs Shield, with Tasmania clashing with a strong SA open side which recently competed in the national carnival.

Batting first, South Australia put an imposing total of 109 on the board with Tasmania getting the equation down to 11 required from the final over.

Wayne Quarrell then proved the hero, producing a straight drive for five runs off the second-last ball to put Tasmania ahead, leaving batting partner Sean Farrelly to defend the last ball of the game to cap victory.

Tasmanian playing coach and former Australian representative Tom Robinson and fellow state players Quarrell, Farrelly, Martin Stirling and Nathan Muir will return to Adelaide next weekend with their Eastern Shore Bombers side to compete in the national finals of the National Indoor Cricket League.