Tasmanian cricket coach Salliann Briggs concedes she has gone "pretty hard" in making the state's women's outfit competitive.
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The Tigers announced a 2020-21 squad which featured just four home-grown players - half as many as last season - as the 36-year-old searches for the state's next national representative.
Launceston pair Katelyn Fryett (retired) and Emma Manix-Geeves were both absent from the squad announced Thursday, as were Hobart pair Stefanie Daffara and Erin Fazackerley.
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"Basically the girls were not in a professional program two years ago and we've gone pretty hard," Briggs said.
"I think that was actually a big change for some of those girls going from either flying to games or training twice a week to being in a professional program.
"If you want to go and play for Australia you've got to treat the game seriously and work hard at it.
"We're still trying to make sure the perception here is that if you want to play for Australia we've got the perfect environment to do that - we're still working on that, we're not quite there.
"But we want to make sure that if people are looking for changes or want to play at the highest level they consider Tasmania."
Hobart young gun Chloe Abel is the sole Tasmanian addition to the side that finished second bottom in last year's WNCL campaign.
The University starlet captained the state at February's home soil under-18 national championships, compiling 111 runs and 10 wickets in 10 games with a top score of 52 not out.
"We're really happy - we know that we had to invest in the long-term so it's great that we can give an opportunity to a local girl with Chloe," Briggs said.
"She's an aggressive bowler, she's a good batter ... we don't know when her opportunity will come but we certainly want to invest in her future."
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Briggs conceded the lack of Tasmanian players in the squad was worrying, but said talented young players would be drawn to cricket if the Tigers were winning.
"It is a concern, but we've got to remember that we want to win games of cricket," Briggs said.
"We actually want to inspire girls to play cricket and I think one way of doing that is creating a really successful female team, we've got to do that first.
"I think the biggest surprise when I came over was where were the girls that want to play for Australia and after two years we're starting to get girls who believe they can do it."
TIGERS 2020-21 SQUAD
- Chloe Abel
- Samantha Bates
- Nicola Carey (Australian contract)
- Maisy Gibson
- Corinne Hall
- Brooke Hepburn
- Sasha Moloney
- Meg Phillips
- Emily Smith
- Emma Thompson
- Belinda Vakarewa
- *Two more players will be named in coming days
- *Two extra spots still remain on the list