Preview of Premier League Final

The 2011/12 Women’s Premier League Final is tipped to be one of the match ups of the season with both teams in form leading into this do or die final at the home of cricket in the capital, Manuka Oval.
Both Tuggeranong Taverners (40 points) and ANU Power Education (24 Points) have held the top two positions all season ahead of Queanbeyan Jetset (12 points) and Eastlake Bluestar (8 points) this Saturday’s final is sure to be a highly anticipated affair.

This season has seen them play 4 times with the Taverners edging out Power Education with 3 wins and 1 loss, yet as we all know anything can happen in a final.

Looking through this season’s statistics we see both teams take up the top 10 positions in batting and 7 out of the top 10 in bowling with only Charlotte Anneveld, Sam Bates and Sian Ruck (Queanbeyan Jetset) the only other featured bowlers in what certainly looks like a domination of sorts.

Last season saw Taverners take out the title against Jetset in what in the end was a close encounter only to be affected by rain towards the end of the match. Taverners are now looking to be a dominant force in women’s cricket in the capital making it yet another potential win for them.

Looking at the match ups for the final sees some youthful talent mixed with the experienced campaigner.
Power Education have one of Canberra’s most well known cricketing prospects who is current captain of the Meteors as well as having played in all formats of cricket for Australia, Kris Britt. Kris is an exciting all rounder who can take the game away from the opposition in a very short space of time both with her big hitting with the bat and her leg spinning deliveries with the ball.
Also in the mix is Asha Smith the hard hitting opening batter who can plunge the ball to all parts of the field. This season with the bat has seen her hit some monstrous 6’s including one 80m long into the crowd at the WACA during a T20. Asha along with youngster Zoe Cooke, Canberra’s up and coming all rounder will certainly be looking to do everything they can with both bat and ball in an attempt to help Kris and her chargers take home the Lynne O’Meara Trophy come Saturday.
On the other side of the coin we have The Taverners, a team who pride themselves on consistency and winning games. They have developed an x factor within the competition very rarely losing.

Rebecca McRae is a club stalwart looking to dominate with her hard straight hitting and Laura Wright, a opening bat/wicketkeeper who can bat through an innings and score big.

Both Laura and Rebecca will be looking to take charge right from the start and lead their team by example. Laura is currently sitting as the competitions second leading run scorer behind Asha Smith and she will be looking to add to her already big season total of 284.

What a match up. What a final this is set up to be. Who will win? Only time will tell.

If you want to see one of the games of the season come down to this Saturday the 4th of February from 10am to see the nation’s best female cricketers in action at the historic Manuka Oval.