Tasmanian Tigers add three fresh faces for WNCL season

They’ve won the last two WNCL trophies but that hasn’t stopped the Tasmanian Tigers from adding more talent to their squad. Meet our new players.

The Tasmanian Tigers bid for a third-straight WNCL premiership will kick off on Sunday with three fresh faces looking to aid their charge towards history.

After defeating South Australia in the past two finals, the Tigers have added Beth Lane, Lauren Smith and Tabatha Saville to the 2023-24 squad with all three looking to make their mark as early as Sunday’s opener against the ACT Meteors.

Tabatha Saville, Beth Lane and Lauren Smith. New Tigers players ahead of the women's cricket season for 2023/24. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Lane and Smith both hail from New South Wales while Saville has experience in both the Scorpions and Adelaide Strikers programs.

A batter with the ability to play anywhere in the middle order, Saville said she was excited to try and break into what had become a pretty formidable line-up across the last two seasons.

“I think a lot of players would maybe look at trying to break into our batting line-up and be discouraged about the lack of opportunity given the talent already there,” Saville said.

“But I’m not someone that shies away from a challenge so I’m really looking forward to not only working with my teammates but also competing against them.

“To go to work with players like Elyse Villani, Nicola Carey and Naomi Stalenberg is something I’m really excited about.”

HOBART, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 25: Tasmanian Tigers players celebrate the win with the trophy during the WNCL Final match between Tasmania and South Australia at Blundstone Arena, on February 25, 2023, in Hobart, Australia. (Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)

After spending time with current Tigers coach Jude Coleman when both where in South Australia, Saville said the highly credentialed leader was a big driver behind her move to Tasmania.

“I’m probably a creature of habit so it was a very hard decision to not stay on as a train on player at the Scorpions but just having Jude here as made me feel a lot more comfortable,” she said.

“I wanted a program I could step into that had a real professionalism and great values already behind it and I could focus on my game.

“Jude and ‘Junior’ (Villani) are big reasons behind that.”

For Smith, joining Tasmania comes with a second chance at the top level after she was delisted by the NSW Breakers at the end of last season.

“It was tough to be let go,” Smith said.

“When Tassie reached out I was definitely not going to turn that down because clearly they’ve been such a strong team the last two seasons and it gave me a lot of confidence personally knowing they wanted me to be a part of their organisation.”

Coming from a family with three brothers and a cricket loving dad, securing her first full-time professional contract at 18 was something Lane was incredibly excited about.

“A contract anywhere would have been great but to get one with the best team in the competition was very validating for me and I’m just really keen to pay back the faith shown in me.”