South Launceston continues to write the record books, claiming their fifth consecutive Cricket North women's grand final following a 54-run win over Launceston.
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Heading into the clash having only dropped one match this season during the Cricket North campaign and dismissing their opponents cheaply a fortnight earlier, the Knights dealt with Launceston's pressure and brought home the win, finishing the T20 season with a Narine Maurangi hat-trick.
Working their way to 8-108 through the work of co-captains Caitlyn Webster (30 off 35 balls) and Belinda Wegman (20 off 10), South put the foot down and dismissed Launceston for 54, with Wegman incredibly proud.
"[I'm] pretty excited, a first-time thing for anyone in women's cricket in Tasmania," she said.
"I'm very proud of the girls, they've worked hard all season and it paid off today.
"When we lost a few wickets early, we were all a bit nervous but we know we can back each other up, that's what we work well with as a team - if someone fails, someone else can back them up."
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Amy Duggan and Meg Radford fell early through the work of Stacey Norton-Smith, who finished with 3-9, with Webster and Alice McLauchlan (13) steadying the ship, setting a platform for Wegman and Ellie Mathews (15) to contribute late.
From her first delivery, youthful spinner Amy Pereira looked dangerous, flying the ball above their eye-line and claiming the key wickets of Webster and Deb Reynolds to finish with 2-8 off just two overs.
South Launceston then applied their trademark pressure as soon as the innings changed to swing the game back in their favour.
Opening with Lisa Battle and rising star Ava Curtis, the pair only had to wait 14 balls for their first scalp, with the former claiming co-captain Lynn Hendley for two.
Former Riverside player Ianthe Boden joined Norton-Smith at the crease, but couldn't find her mojo, dismissed for 14 as South's pressure rose.
"We've worked hard all season on that [building pressure]," Wegman said.
"We pride ourselves on our batting, bowling and fielding, so we work hard in the nets to get that job done as a team."
Curtis picked up the wickets of Boden and Victoria Geale in the same over to have the Lions teetering at 3-20 with South's record-breaking achievement looming large.
Launceston wasn't able to steady the flow of wickets as star opener Norton-Smith valiantly toiled away at the other end, with another bat-carrying performance looking likely from the 18-year-old until her former captain Wegman stopped her in her tracks.
Dismissed for 24 off 44 balls as she looked to build an innings for her side, Norton-Smith, who also coaches Longford in the TCL Female Boom, was gracious in defeat post-match, thanking the crowd for their support despite a vocal South presence.
After her dismissal, spinner Narine Maurangi proved to be the destroyer, finishing with figures of 4-8, including wickets off the last three balls to finish the grand final in true fairytale fashion.
The victory means that only the Knights and Riverside raised the Kristen Beams perpetual trophy following the Blues' success in 2014-15.
Result
South Launceston: 8-108 (Webster 30, Wegman 20, Mathews 15. Norton-Smith 3-9, Pereira 2-8, Geale 1-14) d Launceston: 54 (Norton-Smith 24, Boden 7, Illingworth 5. Maurangi 4-8, Curtis 2-8, Wegman 1-4
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