Players in mood to improve

LAST season’s breakthrough WNCL tournament will be the baseline of expectations for Tasmania’s women’s cricketers as they prepare for their first competitive pre-season hitout.

After winning just five 50over games in total in their first eight years, the Tigers won four of their six matches in 2018-19. It is a position secondyear coach Salliann Briggs wants her group to improve on this summer, with a 14-player squad comprising Tigers and Hobart Hurricanes players heading to Darwin today for a week.

The Hurricanes will contest the Northern Territory Cricket’s women’s strike league — playing four matches against an ACT squad split in two and topped up with locals and several Victorian girls — while the Tigers will feature in two 50over matches against the ACT.

“That’s our standards now, we know what we can achieve and we have been working hard the last two months in really making sure our strengths are really strong but also adding new skills,” Briggs said.

Recruits Samantha Bates (Tigers only), Maisy Gibson and Belinda Vakarewa will all feature, while Emily Smith returns to Tigers colours following two years with WA.

Briggs has been impressed with the progress of the squad during her second pre-season, and has already noticed differences from 12 months ago.

“The biggest difference we are seeing is they are hitting the ball much harder, their contact points are better, their bat speeds are better and we are seeing a lot more consistency with our bowling and able to produce more deliveries.

“When we have bowlers who have three or four deliveries they have been working on, that is fantastic, they just have to be able to do it under pressure. We’ve been training from the middle of May now, so we’re ready to see where we’re at.”