New South Wales will enter the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) semi-finals on Friday spurred by a rare reminder of what defeat tastes like.
Victoria snapped the Breakers’ 23-game WNCL winning streak last weekend in Melbourne, inflicting the defending champions’ first one-day loss in over three seasons.
Wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy feels it was a timely defeat before NSW, who have won 14 of a possible 16 WNCL titles and the last seven straight, take on Western Australia in a sudden-death clash.
“We’d won 23 on the trot in the 50-over format, so a loss was inevitable,” Healy said ahead of her side’s semi-final at Blacktown in Sydney.
“I think we all knew that we didn’t play as well as we could have on Saturday.
“So we know we’ve still got a little bit of improvement ahead of us, which is kind of exciting.
“…It was probably a nice time for us to lose.
“Going into the finals we know what we need to improve on.”
Cricket Australia introduced WNCL semi-finals for the first time this season, with the two top regular season teams previously clashing in a title decider.
Second-placed Queensland will meet third-placed Victoria in the other semi, also at Blacktown on Friday, with the winners progressing to Sunday’s final at the SCG.
“It has been a long time between drinks for us so everyone is pretty excited,” Queensland captain Jodie Fields said of her side’s first finals campaign since 2005-06.
“We’ve had a short turnaround after the games in Hobart last weekend but we’ve gone well against Victoria this season and there is plenty of motivation.”
The weekend will serve as an ideal tune-up for the nation’s best before the women’s World Cup in India starting at the end of the month.
“I think all the girls in the squad going to the World Cup will be playing in the finals, so the chance to play two extra high-quality 50-over games leading into that is pretty crucial,” Healy said.
Seven NSW women have been picked in Australia’s World Cup squad and the Breakers are favoured to claim a staggering 15th WNCL title.
