Webb's winding road leads her home for WNCL decider

Courtney Webb will be one of the native Tasmanians taking the field for the Women's National Cricket League final at Blundstone Arena on Sunday, but she won't be playing for the Tigers.

The star South Australia batter Webb will enter her first 50-over domestic decider with even more to play for than a title, with the battle against her home state an exciting prospect for the 22-year-old.

Webb, who originally hails from Launceston, played three seasons with the Tigers before making the switch to the Scorpions in 2020; a move that has propelled her career forward faster than she could' have imagined. 

"It was mainly an opportunity thing," Webb told cricket.com.au of her move to South Australia.

"I had a couple of difficult conversations with the coach and coaching staff ... it was a season where I was a little bit injured and unwell for a little bit of it and then probably just didn't put out the performances that I wanted to."

Webb spoke to South Australia coach Luke Williams, who she had worked with during the Australia Under-19s tour of South Africa in 2018.

"He reached out towards the end of the (2019-20) season and said that that would be a pretty cool opportunity for me to come over to SA," Webb continued.

"I guess I've cemented my spot in number four now in this team and put together a few good performances so I'm just loving my time over here now."

The prospect of taking on some of her closest friends in the Tigers line-up is not lost on Webb, admitting there were "a lot of nerves" as a battle for the title with her former teammates looms. 

"Sasha Maloney was my first ever female cricket coach, so she's still in the side and I'm pretty sure she got me out last game as well, so hopefully I can do one better against her this weekend," she said.

"I went to primary school, high school, and year 11 and 12 with Emma Manix-Geeves so it's really great to see her get a really good opportunity and have a good season so that's been amazing for her.

"There'll be a few familiar faces down there."

The right-hander has reaped the rewards of her move this season, ending the home-and-away campaign as her side's leading run-scorer with 279 at an average of just under 40.

While she has not broken through for a massive score so far, rarely has she failed to produce for her side, with this consistency pleasing the top order batter.

"I'm happy with how consistent I feel like I've been, I've putting in okay performances in most of the games this season which has been really good," she said.

"But I'd like to take it another step further and really make it a really big match winning score, so hopefully that happens this weekend. 

"If not, I can try and build on that for next season as well."

The Scorpions trained in Adelaide on Thursday ahead of their trip south, having spent just a few days at home after weeks on the road in an interrupted season due to border to implications.

Image Id: BFD980D75BFD438F89FB64007C9CE1D2 Image Caption: Webb plays for Tasmania in 2017 // Getty

But Webb, who also plays for the Melbourne Renegades in the Weber WBBL and who is no stranger to moving from state to state, is looking forward to the homecoming of sorts she will receive on Sunday.

"It'd be great to have friends and family at the game, I don't play too much cricket down in Tassie obviously," she said.

"We had the WBBL hub down there, but other than that, I haven't played heaps of cricket at this level down in Tassie, so to have a final and my first final at this level, it'd be pretty special to get home and have some SA support even though we are down in Tassie."

The Scorpions only just scraped into the final, having won their last game against Victoria on Monday with a bonus point to leap into second spot.

It was then all down to the Queensland Fire defeating the NSW Breakers on Tuesday, a strange situation for Webb and her teammates, who she said all approached it differently.

"We were on the plane during the game and all went home to watch the second innings by ourselves," she said.

"I was keeping track of it throughout the morning when we were all together and then I think a few were watching literally every ball; I was probably too nervous to really pay attention.

"Our team group chat was going off; Josey Dooley had a fair bit to say at one stage, so I was like, 'Oh I better check the scores' and I think New South Wales were three for 30 and I was like, wow, we could actually be playing in the final.

"I guess it didn't really seem real and then I tried not to get too ahead of myself and put my phone away again, and then checked another half an hour later … we're all just really pumped now." 

The Scorpions will fly to Hobart on Friday ahead of the final that was rescheduled to Sunday, allowing Tasmania to host the match.