Tasmania Cricket Team

Tasmania Cricket Team

The Tasmanian cricket team, nicknamed the Tigers, represents the Australian state of Tasmania in cricket tournaments. They compete annually in the Australian domestic senior men's cricket season, which currently consists of the first-class Sheffield Shield, the limited overs Ford Ranger Cup, and formerly in the domestic Twenty20 competition known as the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash before it changed into a city-based competition.

The Tasmanian Tigers are administered and selected by the Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA) which was founded in 1906. However Tasmania had representative sides prior to the establishment of the TCA. Tasmania played in the very first first-class cricket match in Australia against Victoria in 1851, which they won by three wickets. Despite winning their first match, and producing many fine cricketers in the late nineteenth century, Tasmania was overlooked when the participants in Australian first-class tournament known as the Sheffield Shield were chosen in 1892. For nearly eighty years the Tasmanian side played an average of only two or three first-class matches per year, usually against one of the mainland Australian teams, or warm-up matches against a touring international test team.

Tasmania were finally admitted to regular competitions when they became a founding member of the Gillette Cup domestic one day cricket tournament upon its inception in 1969. They have performed well in it, particularly recently, winning it four times, in 1978–79, 2004–05, 2007–08 and in 2009–10. They have also been runners-up twice, in 1977–78 and 1986–87. It took a further eight seasons before Tasmania were admitted into the Sheffield Shield in 1977–78, and it was initially on a reduced fixtures list, giving them little hope of competing on an even footing, or challenging for the title. By the 1979–80 season, they had become full participants, and slowly progressed towards competitiveness within the tournament. The Tigers won their long-awaited first Sheffield Shield in the 2006–07 season—after almost 30 years in the competition—and their second five years later in 2010–11. They have also been runner-up three times, in 1993–94, 1997–98, and 2001–02. The Tigers were also runners-up in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in 2006–07, but have yet to win that tournament.

Tasmania play their limited overs cricket in a predominantly green uniform, with red and gold as their secondary colours, and have a Tasmanian Tiger as their team logo. They play home matches at Bellerive Oval, Clarence on Hobart's Eastern Shore, though matches are occasionally played at venues in Devonport and Launceston.

The Tasmanian Tigers are currently sponsored by PKF.