The Tasmania Tigers women's team will travel to Queensland this week to play in back-to-back games on Wednesday and Friday in the WNCL.
Ready to go up against the first-place Queensland side, all-rounder and skipper Sasha Moloney spoke to the media ahead of the clash.
"To be honest, we haven't really thought about them being top of the ladder. We go into it just worrying about us but we know they're gonna be a tough team to beat," Moloney said.
"They've got some big hitters like a Laura Harris. We know that it's gonna come quite hard at us, but in saying that they're gonna give us lots of opportunities."
"So for us, if we can stick to our bowling, (and) take those opportunities when they come, we know that will set us up nicely with the ball and then with the bat."
Queensland has only lost one match this season and will be tough opposition. Leading the charge for them are Georgia Voll and Laura Harris.
Voll has scored 250 runs in six innings with a high score of 145. However, Harris has been more damaging with her explosivity. Averaging 69.00 runs she has accomplished a strike rate of 211.22.
Tasmania will enter its first game of the 2023 year, with two dominant consecutive wins against New South Wales. In their first match, they limited New South Wales to 129 runs, with a clinical bowling performance and came out with a 10-wicket win
Following that, they emerged victorious with a 7-wicket win. This has given them extra confidence as they try to slowly advance up the WNCL ladder.
"To walk away with two really good wins at home against New South Wales was really nice," she said.
"Coming back from the Big Bash can take some time to get back into the swing of 50 over cricket but I thought the girls dealt with that really nicely."
The highlighted player of the two games was opener Lizelle Lee who managed to score 70 runs in both games. With the ball, Sarah Coyte and Molly Strano took eight and seven wickets each.
Speaking about the South African batter, Moloney praised her performance and couldn't believe she was able to pile up the runs against a well-rounded New South Wales bowling attack.
After announcing her retirement from international cricket last year, Lee has continued to play domestic cricket around the world. Excelling in the 50-over format, she is the reigning Women's ODI Cricketer of the Year.
"She goes hard and you know what you're gonna get from her. 70 in both games against New South Wales, that's unbelievable."
"Especially (since) she probably didn't come out and perform in the first three games against Vic [Victoria] the way she would've liked but the move up the top of the order I think is really good for her."
Unfortunately, Tasmania will be unable to keep the same squad from their previous clash. Bowlers Maisie Gibson and Amy Smith will be left out of the squad. While Nicola Carey and Heather Graham will return providing depth with the ball.
"Unfortunately, we've lost Maisie (with a) broken thumb and Amy's away with the U-19 Aussie squad for the World Cup."
"We've lost two of our leggies but we've got a couple of really good inclusions in, in Nic [Nicola Carey] and Heather [Graham] so we'll be fine with the ball."
The squad of 13 to take on Queensland in the next two matches will consist of Nicola Carey, Julia Cavanough, Sarah Coyte, Heather Graham, Lizelle Lee, Emma Manix-Geeves, Sasha Moloney, Clare Scott, Naomi Stalenberg, Molly Strano, Emma Thompson, Rachel Trenaman and captain Elyse Villani.
The first game will commence on Wednesday, followed by their second game on Friday. It can be live-streamed on Kayo Sports and cricket.com.au
