Tigers dynasty! Carey's sublime ton secures WNCL three-peat

A sublime unbeaten century from Player of the Season Nicola Carey has guided Tasmania to a historic Women's National Cricket League three-peat as the Tigers downed Queensland by six wickets in the 2023-24 season decider.

Carey capped an incredible season that started with her relinquishing her national contract to prioritise more consistent game time with 111 not out as Tasmania chased down the Fire's 7-248 with 14 balls to spare.

The 30-year-old brought up her second ton of the WNCL season off 128 balls to raucous cheering as her side closed in on victory, supported by Emma Manix-Geeves who struck four boundaries in a 24-ball 28 not out to help reduce the require run-rate in the closing stages.

Carey was also named player of the final, collecting 1-47 from her 10 overs after Queensland skipper Georgia Redmayne elected to bat first at Blundstone Arena.

Heather Graham also contributed 63 (from 75 balls), hitting eight boundaries in a 132-run third wicket partnership with Carey who crashed 10 fours of her own.

It meant young Fire allrounder Charli Knott's career-best knock of 73 (61) to power her side to a competitive total went in vain as the visitors struggled to make inroads throughout the chase against an experienced Tasmanian line-up.

It caps an incredible run for the Tigers as they became just the second state to lift the Ruth Preddy Cup three seasons in a row after NSW, who won 20 of the league's first 23 titles since its inception in 1996-97.

"I'm relieved, that was so bloody stressful out there," Carey said post-match.

"I felt really scratchy out there but Heather (Graham), even 'EMG' (Manix-Geeves) at the end there made my life so much easier.

"To keep them under 250 on a pretty good wicket, we were pretty happy with that but gee that was hard work.

"I'm just stoked we got the win, it's really cool to be able to contribute in the final and get the girls over the line.

"It's an amazing group, we've got amazing players, amazing support staff, the organisation is really good to us. We've got an incredible group and hopefully we can stick together a bit longer."

Captain Elyse Villani overcame shoulder inflammation pre-game to take her place in the XI and hit 32 at the top of the order to get Tasmania's pursuit off to a strong start.

Fire allrounder Georgia Voll (3-56) threatened to turn the match late with the wickets of Graham and Naomi Stalenberg for a duck in the 39th over, but Manix-Geeves ensured there was no repeat of last season's wild finish with her quickfire knock before Carey iced the game with a sweetly struck four down the ground in the 48th over as the Tigers finished 4-249.

Earlier, 21-year-old Knott combined power and finesse to lift her side from a lacklustre 3-119 with 20 overs to go, forming crucial partnerships with Mikayla Hinkley (33) and Ruth Johnston (15 from 14).

It was Knott's first time past 50 for the WNCL season, striking 11 boundaries as she passed her previous best List A score of 68 form March 2021 before being bowled by Graham in the 46th over.

She became Graham's third victim, who was the pick of the Tigers bowlers with 3-39 from her 10 overs.

The right-arm seam-bowling allrounder grabbed the crucial wickets of Lauren Winfield-Hill (28), Hinkley and Knott to stifles the Fire innings, who lost regular wickets throughout after skipper Georgia Redmayne won the toss and elected to bat first.

Redmayne (23) put on 52 for the opening wicket with Voll (33) before Sasha Moloney (1-25) struck to get Tasmania underway.

Voll fell shortly after to Lauren Smith (1-27) as the visitors lost their first two wickets for seven runs before Winfield-Hill and Hinkley steadied with a 56-run third wicket stand.

Star Tigers spinner Molly Strano went wicketless for just the second time this season, passing a late fitness test to take her place in the XI after suffering a broken hand while batting earlier this month which caused her to miss the final three matches of the regular season.

WNCL 2023-24 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Total points PTS
1 Tasmanian Tigers Women TAS	12	9	2	0	1	0.98	0	5	43
2 Queensland Fire QLD	12	8	3	0	1	1.224	0	7	41
3 Victoria Women VIC	12	7	5	0	0	0.013	0	4	32
4 Western Australia Women WA	12	6	6	0	0	-0.113	0	4	28
5 NSW Women NSW	12	6	6	0	0	-0.105	0	2	26
6 South Australia Women SA	12	4	8	0	0	-0.063	0	3	19
7 ACT Meteors ACT	12	1	11	0	0	-2.006	0	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

PTS: Total points