Allround Nicola Carey too good for ACT Meteors

It was Nicola Carey’s day at the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) as she scored her maiden List A century before taking a three-wicket haul to guide Tasmanian Tigers to a 20-run win against ACT Meteors at the Phillip Oval in Canberra on Wednesday (February 3).



After Tasmania opted to bat, Carey arrived at the crease to join Rachel Priest in the fourth ball of the match after Nicola Hancock castled their skipper Sasha Moloney for one. Priest started aggressively smashing three boundaries in the first three overs. Carey found her first boundary when she hit Chloe Rafferty through deep-cover for a four. Post Priest’s dismissal by Madeline Penna in the 12^th over, Tasmania lost two more wickets in quick succession and were reduced to 74 for 4 in 17.4 overs.



However, Carey found an able partner in Corinne Hall and got to her fifty from 72 balls. Soon, the left-hander went past her previous List A best score of 74. The pair put on 91 runs partnership for the fifth wicket before Olivia Porter dismissed Hall for 38.



Despite the loss of her partner, Carey kept going and was severe on Hancock, smashing her for four consecutive fours in the 44^th over with the third boundary bringing up her century from 126 balls. She was eventually dismissed for 105 by Amy Yates in the next over.



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Tasmania’s innings finished at 227 for 9 from their fifty overs, Penna and Yates took two wickets each for ACT.



In the chase, ACT lost a few early wickets including that of Katie Mack, who scored a match-winning fifty in the opening match. Carey struck twice to remove Angela Reakes and Erica Kershaw before young leg-spinner Amy Smith dismissed Carly Leeson for 27 to leave ACT reeling at 80 for 5 in 26.1 overs.



Erin Osborne joined Penna and the duo looked to resurrect the innings adding 90 more runs to take the score to 170. But once Smith dismissed Penna for 41 in the 44^th over and Moloney took out Osborne in the next over, it was too much of an ask for the ACT lower-order to get the remaining runs.



In the 49^th over, Carey trapped Rafferty in front to end ACT’s innings on 207 and wrap up the match and a memorable day for her as Tasmania emerged victorious by 20 runs. She finished with figures of 3 for 39 from her ten overs, while Smith and Belinda Vakarewa took two wickets each. For ACT, Osborne was the top-scorer with 54 to her name.



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Brief Scores:



Tasmanian Tigers: 227/9 in 50 overs (Nicola Carey 105, Corinne Hall 38; Amy Yates 2/32) beat ACT Meteors: 207/10 in 49 overs (Erin Osborne 54, Madeline Penna 41; Nicola Carey 3/39) by 20 runs. POTM: Nicola Carey