Injury-hit ACT Meteors feel the pinch as stars fall in WNCL clash against Tasmania

"I thought it was going to be a tough day in the field," the ACT Meteors coach said, "and it did turn out that way."

The Meteors felt the sting of losing three frontline bowlers in a 120-run loss to defending WNCL champions Tasmania at Phillip Oval on Sunday.

Ferling left the field early in the game with a side strain, Sutcliffe was ruled out before the match with a pectoral injury while Genford was out with back pain. To make matters worse, Carly Leeson is now battling a quad strain ahead of Tuesday's rematch.

Talk about a baptism of fire for fast bowling debutante Amy Hunter, who got her first taste of WNCL action alongside local rookie Grace Lyons.

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Hunter [2-60 from nine overs] was forced to shoulder a huge load while Alisha Bates [1-59] and Leeson [1-48] stepped up to bowl 10 overs apiece.

Nicola Carey [90] and Naomi Stalenberg [75] steered Tasmania to 8-303, before the Meteors folded for 183 in reply with Rebecca Carter [49] and Annie Wikman [43] leading the chase.

"Credit to Amy Hunter in her first game, she bowled exceptionally well even if her figures don't reflect that. She created opportunities early, she was swinging it, she beat the bat plenty of times so that was really exciting," Osborne said.

"Annie Wikman bowled with the new ball and that's something she has never done, so she adapted pretty well. There's positives there even though the outcome wasn't there today.

"When anyone goes down, there's opportunities for players to come into the team and debut. With such a young squad, unfortunately there is no rushing experience, it's going to take time.

"I think we've got a very skilful team, it's just going to take time to learn the game and play at this level.

"Obviously losing four front-line bowlers hurts us. It was awesome to see our young girls and where they're at, it was a really good experience for them, but it was obviously a tough day with Tassie scoring 300.

"There was a lot of learnings to come from it and we are a really young group. We'll continue with that message that every game we play, we'll continue to develop, get better and learn from our mistakes.

"We go again on Tuesday, there will be a couple of changes made, so it'll be good to see what we learn from today and go again."

Injuries will force Osborne's hand into making "wholesale changes" for Tuesday's return bout against Tasmania at Phillip Oval.

"Gracie Lyons got her opportunity today which is really exciting. She has come through our pathway from under-13s Emerging Meteors all the way up, so that was really pleasing," Osborne said.

"Alana Horsfall was named in our squad as well. Cricket ACT are on the right track with developing our own players and the pathways are stronger which is really pleasing.

"Lots of young kids are coming through that pathway that I'm hoping are going to be on a contract in the near future."

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