South Australia vs Tasmania: The ladies in red have a bright to start the season

Madeline Penna celebrates her century on Karen Rolton Oval en route to her 109 today - part of a 197 partnership with Courney Webb (123*). 

A stunning Wirltuti (Spring day), marked the start of the WNCL for South Australia and Tasmania.  Held at Karen Rolton Oval, which sits very much in the thick of Adelaide life - traffic bustling around the ground, commuters able to glimpse pitchside as they scurry about their lives in Australia’s cathedral city.  Those who paused and took in the match were treated to batting masterclasses followed by a remarkable stint of fielding captaincy.  

The teams could be forgiven for first-game nerves, but neither of them showed it - instead the trepidation was only shown by the ground’s scoreboard which took until the 19th over of the game to be tamed to show updates from the pitch.  South Australia had won the toss, and elected to bat - preferring to start the season on their own terms it would seem.   What followed was a perfect attritional innings - with the teamsheet batters building a skyscraper of a total for the SA women to defend.  

South Australian openers Emma de Broughe and Bridget Patterson played it perfectly, with a new-ball soaking 50 run partnership - including a lofty six from B Pat in the 6th over.  With both falling within a couple of overs, Countney Webb and Madeline Penna found themselves together at the crease by the end of the 14th over.  And there they dug in, in spectacular style - building a match-winning 197 run partnership which saw both players reach centuries, textbook middle order batting.  Webb remained to the end of the innings, and saw SA put a total of 330 on the board.    

Though Tasmania didn’t seem to show too many nerves, the players who took their honours in the field were those on debut for the team - Scotswoman Kathryn Bryce took three wickets for 60 runs.  Queenslander-in-search-of-cooler-climate Courney Sippel took most of the high-impact catches, as well as the bonus wicket of Elanor Larosa late in the innings.  In fact, Sippel was highly visible on the field, and was in amongst most of the big fielding moments.  Bowling changes seemed a little haphazard, with Tasmanian captain Villani choosing to bowl Lauren Smith out with the finish of the innings, rather than turning to end-of-innings specialist Nicola Carey.  

With 330 to defend, a relaxed South Australia took to the field after the innings break.  Opening bowling from Courtney Neale and Ella Wilson squeezed the Tasmanian openers and had the run rate starting to climb.  Tasmanian opener Lizelle Lee brought a level of restraint to her shots not often seen, suggesting the ball around the field rather than her more usual slog/insistence way of playing shots.  Along with Rachel Trenaman, Lee built a good partnership weathering the aggressive spell of bowling, particularly from Neale.  Here, though, was where the genius of Jemma Barsby’s captaincy became clear - preventing the batting side from finding stride to shoot for the total.  Four of the seven wickets taken from Tasmania were straight after bowling changes, coupled with fielding set and bowling executed in a way that prevented the batters from getting into the rhythm they needed.  Exemplified in the 18th over, which saw Barsby both bowling and commanding the fielders with the authorita that only bowling captains show.

Then.  The openers were gone. Trenaman skied a ball which was caught by Busby off debutant Isa Malgioglio’s bowling and Lee was caught by Penna off the bowling of stalwart Amanda-Jade Wellington.  Nicola Carey and Ellyse Villani were now in batting for Tasmania and fought valiantly to keep the required run rate under control.  At times it seemed like they were grappling with a slippery fish, it writhed and wriggled, but by over 29 it looked like they may be starting to wrestle it under control.  Then Carey gets a metaphorical fin-slap - she tonked a ball towards mid-on, only to see bowler Barsby snatch it from the air, leaving Carey to depart the crease for 24.  From there the maths started to hurt, and the required run rate steadily climbed, while wickets ticked over.  A seventh wicket stand from Hayley Silver-Homes and Sippel was entertaining at the back of the innings, but ultimately Tasmania reached 294/7, 36 runs short.  

A win on the table for South Australia, and on Sunday they return to face Tasmania again.  Conditions for Sunday’s game are starkly different - cloudy with a slight chance of rain.  Will this aid the Tasmanian spinners, perhaps preventing SA from getting the two-fer at their home ground?  Or will SA brazen it out - Sunday’s match awaits.

Helen (Crystallised Cricket) is a writer based in Dharug and Gundagarra country, and here is writing about a game played on Kaurna country. She acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands that she writes from.