Hurricanes fired up for finals return

HURRICANES coach Salliann Briggs is confident a revamped squad for WBBL|05 will provide the variety and depth to lead the side back into finals contention.

After back-to-back semifinal appearances in the first two tournaments, Hobart has struggled in the past two seasons, picking up consecutive wooden spoons and just four wins in total from 28 games.

It has led to a shake-up of the playing list, with seven new faces — nearly half the squad — to feature this summer in the standalone tournament starting this weekend.

Australian representatives Nicola Carey and Tayla Vlaeminck join new imports Chloe Tryon (South Africa) and Fran Wilson (England) in bringing international experience alongside Heather Knight, while former NSW and Sydney Thunder duo Belinda Vakarewa and Maisy Gibson bolster the bowling department.

Emily Smith also returns home after three seasons in Perth to replace Georgia Redmayne behind the stumps.

Briggs is banking on the new additions to make an impact in purple — especially in the bowling department.

“We wanted to look at our bowling attack just to add some variation so it was good that we could recruit players like Nic Carey and Tayla Vlaeminck, just because they had a little bit of pace and offer some different deliveries as well,” Briggs said.

“The addition of Vakarewa and Gibson also adds some pace and some leg spin, and we all know how valuable they are in the middle phases.

“We’ve got some great players as well who’ve already been playing for the Hurricanes for a few seasons who perform well, so we’re hoping that it’s a great balance and just adds a bit of depth.

“We’ve got a lot of players that can offer different things, it’s just about being competitive. I think if we stay competitive throughout the whole competition we’ll get more wins than we lose.”

Hobart found itself in winning positions in the majority of its matches last season, but struggled to get across the line on several occasions.

Briggs believes her group can take the next step from being competitive to developing a killer instinct when they snatch the momentum.

“We want to be in those finals, there is no doubt about it. We took some positives from last year because we were in so many tight games as opposed to them being a little bit one sided. “We just need to make sure that when we’re in that position, we’re more ruthless and we don’t let it slip.

“I think with the additions to our current players, hopefully we’ve got the right balance this year.”

Although the Tigers started the WNCL campaign with a pair of losses, Briggs declared there were plenty of positives to take from the opening round matches against Western Australia and Queensland — especially with the ball. But putting runs on the board was the glaring weakness, with the recruitment of Tryon and Wilson targeted to fill that void.

“The biggest thing for us on WNCL is we’re taking wickets. We took 20 wickets from our first round which is a massive positive … it means that we’ve got a good group of bowlers that are very clear on their plans and they’re very threatening.

“If you take wickets early on, you know the momentum goes in your way in the T20 format.

“The key thing for us is we’ve just got to make sure we build those partnerships with the bat.

“And the addition of Heather Knight coming into that fold, she brings a lot of experience.”