Cricket Tasmania chief declares Salliann Briggs as “person to take us forward” despite poor record

Another disappointing WBBL tournament has not deterred Cricket Tasmania chief Dominic Baker from throwing his support behind Hurricanes coach Salliann Briggs.

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CRICKET Tasmania chief Dominic Baker has backed Salliann Briggs to turn the fortunes of the women’s program despite another underwhelming WBBL campaign.

Semi-finalists in the first two tournaments, the Hurricanes will miss the Big Bash finals for a fourth consecutive season.

Since replacing Julia Price as coach of the female program on a three year deal, Briggs has had limited on field success with the Hurricanes, while the Tigers regressed in the WNCL last year after narrowly missing the final in 2018-19.

But despite her poor record Baker has declared the former England under-19 coach to continue leading the charge.

Hurricanes head coach Salliann Briggs has the backing of Cricket Tasmania CEO Dominic Baker (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

“We have a really strong belief in the program that has been put together and we are working to a plan,” Baker said.

“We have to remember that we are also trying to accelerate the professionalism of female cricket as well, that is going to have a few bumps in the road.

“We have to stick really strong to the plan and the people we have got in place and give them our full support to ensure we continue to improve.

“I firmly believe Salliann is the person to take us forward over the next couple of years.”

Baker has also implored CT high performance staff to take into account hub life challenges when dissecting this year’s WBBL tournament.

Having experienced touring life with restrictions within the Tigers Sheffield Shield hub in Adelaide for several weeks, Baker is aware the 2020-21 season will go down as the most testing in history.

“It is disappointing but I think this year, particularly the environment we have had our players in from a WBBL perspective, has meant we will look at the performances through a different lens than what we would in a normal year.

“It is an extraordinary circumstance to have all teams in one area, living almost out of each other’s pockets for that extended amount of time.

Cricket Tasmania chief Dominic Baker. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

“What we have seen is some real inconsistency right across the performances in the tournament, not just from us.

“I think our highs were absolutely fantastic and our lows were probably pretty ordinary.

“The team will get back into town on Monday, we will do a full review but I will be encouraging our high performance staff to make sure they do run the performances through the lens of the environment we were put into as well.

“What I picked up from hub life in Adelaide, that even though we had plenty of time between games … it is very difficult to escape and just unplug. You are having cricket conversations 24/7.”

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