South Launceston wins ninth straight Cricket North women’s premiership

A local cricket team from Tasmania can lay claim to be the most dominant side in the country after winning a ninth successive premiership. Here are the keys to their success.

South Launceston might just be the most dominant cricket team in the country.

Tasmania might be home to the most dominant local cricket team in the country.

South Launceston’s women’s cricket team secured its ninth straight Cricket North title at the weekend to extend one of sport’s greatest dynasties in recent memories.

It came after a seven-wicket win against Riverside in the grand final with the winning runs being hit with three balls to spare.

Amy Duggan top scored with 58 runs off 55 balls while coach Belinga Wegman (35 off 25) and captain Ava Curtis (20 off 26) also chipped in with important innings.

Steph Dunphy impressed with the ball taking 2-10.

Wegman, who has been involved in all nine premiership teams, said she was still stunned by her side’s incredible run.

“It’s been a bit of a journey, along with myself several of the other girls have played in all nine,” she said.

“It was good to have such a good win in a high quality game. It was a little different last week because we had never played on a Friday evening.

“There was a fantastic crowd, a lot bigger than we expected, the club’s canteen got absolutely slammed.

“I thought it was a great promotion for women’s cricket.”

Wegman credited South Launceston’s dynasty to a strong pathway from the junior program into the senior team.

“A lot of the players have genuinely come up from the juniors, we’ve had some join from other clubs in the past nine years,” he said.

“We train as a junior and senior group together so everyone knows what’s expected of them. Every year, we look back and see how we can improve the program.

“It’s really important we work as a club, for the men’s and women’s programs. We integrate as a club together and I think this has helped us to be successful along the way.”

While the reality of nine premierships in a row is still sinking in, South Launceston is already eyeing off double figures.

“There’s been a little bit of talk about it already,” Wegman said with a laugh.

“For me personally, my daughter won nine in a row playing soccer so I wouldn’t mind getting one over her.

“The men are about to start their finals series so we’ll be getting right behind them and hopefully they can have their own success.”