In a first for Australian Women’s cricket, Cricket Tasmania and the Tasmanian Tigers are sending a squad to Abu Dhabi for a series of T20 and One Day matches against various opponents from the United Kingdom and the UAE.
As part of Cricket Tasmania’s strategic pillar of developing winning elite teams, the organisation has decided to invest in their women’s program and provide them with a further five matches to round out their 2024-25 season.
Across a 7-day period, the Tasmanian Tigers will play four T20 matches in a round robin tournament, facing the UAE national team, Yorkshire and the Blaze before playing in a final T20 game in a playoff match.
The final two matches of the tour will be played after a rest day, with a 50-over game locked in against Essex, followed by a second 50-over game against the Blaze, who Tasmanian cricket fans may be familiar with as Heather Graham’s English side, and the home of Hurricanes player Kathryn Bryce.
Cricket Tasmania’s General Manager – High Performance, Salliann Beams, is excited for Cricket Tasmania to be leading the way with playing opportunities for their female program.
“CT’s strategic focus over the past two years has been to develop winning teams by providing more competitive gameplay, and this tour of Abu Dhabi will provide more opportunities to play in different conditions against very good opposition.
"To remain competitive in all formats we believe we need to afford our female players with experiences to test themselves, so they can find ways to absorb and maintain pressure.
“We aspire to be world leading in the opportunities we provide our players, so I am so pleased as an organisation that we are supporting these initiatives to help develop our players and are passionate about evolving our female program.
“These matches provide a fresh challenge for our players and therefore a level of excitement for our program and I am interested to see how we fair against the English system as well, and am looking forward to seeing what young Mia Barwick and Ava Curtis can do at the next level,” said Beams.
Tasmania’s squad for this tour features fourteen players across the female program and will give playing opportunities to two pathways players that Cricket Tasmania view to have an exciting future as part of their programs.
Their squad consists of:
Mia Barwick*
Julia Cavanough
Nicola Carey
Ava Curtis*
Maisy Gibson
Ruth Johnston
Emma Manix-Geeves
Tabatha Saville
Hayley Silver-Holmes
Lauren Smith
Naomi Stalenberg
Rachel Trenaman
Elyse Villani
Callie Wilson
*Denotes Cricket Tasmania Pathways Player
TOUR DETAILS
Wednesday 26 March
UAE vs Tasmanian Tigers – T20
10.00 am, Zayed Cricket Stadium
Friday 28 March
Yorkshire vs Tasmanian Tigers – T20
10.00 am, Tolerance Oval
Saturday 29 March
The Blaze vs Tasmanian Tigers – T20
10.00 am, Tolerance Oval
Sunday 30 March
Playoff Matches (1v2, 3v4, 5v6) – T20
TBC, Tolerance Oval
Tuesday 1 April
Essex vs Tasmanian Tigers
2.00 pm (D/N), Tolerance Oval
Wednesday 2 April
The Blaze vs Tasmanian Tigers
10.00 am, Tolerance Oval