Carey ton takes Tasmania to hat-trick of WNCL titles

Nicola Carey has hit Tasmania to a WNCL three-peat, with an unbeaten century lifting the Tigers to a six-wicket win over Queensland in the final.

Chasing 249 for victory, Carey hit a composed 111 from 135 balls to control the hosts innings and get them home with 14 balls to spare at Blundstone Arena.

Perennial battlers in the 50-over competition for their first 10 seasons after joining in 2010-11, Tasmania only won their first title in 2022 before backing it up with two more.

And they can thank Carey for the latest one.

Not picked for Australia since December 2022, Carey knocked back a national contract last April in a bid to rejuvenate her game with a full winter at home.

The decision has paid dividends.

The one-time bowling allrounder topped the run-scoring charts in this summer’s WNCL, with Saturday’s runs taking her past 696 for the season.

Carey’s runs came at an average of 69.6, a mark only bettered by Meg Lanning in this summer’s competition.

On Saturday, she made her mission to get Tasmania home.

The 30-year-old barely offered a chance, pulling powerfully and twice reverse-sweeping spinner Charlie Knott to the boundary.

She brought up her century off 128 balls, after previously forming a 132-run partnership with Heather Graham (63 off 75) that swung the match.

Queensland briefly had a sniff when Graham was bowled trying to reverse sweep Georgia Voll, before Naomi Stalenberg was caught three balls later for a duck.

At that point the Tigers needed 67 runs from 68 balls with six wickets in hand, but Carey and Emma Manix-Geeves (28no) ensured there would be no late jitters.

“I’m relieved, that was stressful,” Carey said.

“I felt scratchy but Heather and EMG made my life so much easier.

“I love batting with Heather, it’s always good fun. She makes it look really easy and I make it look harder.”

Earlier, Graham also took 3-39 with the ball to stop any hope of Queensland setting an unattainable target.

Heather Graham picked up three wickets for Tasmania in the WNCL final against Queensland. (Linda Higginson/AAP PHOTOS)

With the Fire 2-115 in the 28th over, Graham got a ball to skid on and bowl Lauren Winfield-Hill for 28.

She then had Mikayla Hinkley lbw on 33, before bowling a hard-hitting Charli Knott for 73 late in the innings to keep Queensland to 7-248.

Tasmania’s victory makes them the second state to achieve a hat-trick of titles in the WNCL, with NSW having at one stage won 10 straight between 2005-06 and 2014-15.