Tasmania's champion cricketers the Tigers united with Ruth Preddy Trophy following courier fail

As the Tasmanian Tigers prepared for the biggest day of their cricketing lives last week, their coach Salliann Beams held a secret.

If the team were to defeat South Australia in its first-ever Women's National Cricket League final, there would be no trophy to hoist victoriously into the air.

«When I found out a couple of days before, I didn't know how I could tell the players that potentially we wouldn't be lifting the trophy if we did make it, so I decided not to,» Beams said.

«I didn't want anything distracting us because it's such an iconic trophy.»

The Ruth Preddy Trophy is known simply as Ruth and is awarded to the national women's champions each year.

Ruth has never been to Bellerive Oval, so perhaps understandably, she got lost on her way to Tasmania.

«For some reason, Cricket Australia sent it but it got lost in transit and there was no communication where it was gone, so we literally had no idea,» Beams said.

«We thought we were never going to see it.»

Lo and behold, Tasmania romped to a nine-wicket victory and an inaugural title, thanks to twin tons from skipper Elyse Villani and local hero Emma Mannix-Geeves.

But post-match, the legendary Ruth was nowhere to be seen.

A celebration without a trophy was not going to fly, so a stand-in was whisked down to ground level from the Cricket Tasmania museum.

Ruth's replacement, an over-60s veteran's trophy that was bigger, shinier and capable of holding a larger amount of champagne, was not fooling anybody though.

«A lot of players have been playing in this competition for a long time and all have been aspiring to lift that trophy for a long time, and a few asked where's the trophy? So yeah, they knew,» Beams said.

«It probably would have been a lot nicer if it was there, but it