Lions are on the prowl as 2021-22 CTPL season hits off

The first ball is ready to be bowled in this summer’s Cricket Tasmania Premier League with Uni aiming to repeat last year’s success. Check out our club guides with all the player movements >>

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REIGNING premier University has a target on its back entering the new CTPL season and captain James Faulkner said the Lions were hunting a second consecutive flag this summer.

The CTPL season hits off on Saturday with a full round of one-dayers, and Uni starts its title defence with a clash against the Northern Raiders in Launceston.

“Every team is looking to win first grade, and all the grades really, so back-to-back would be nice,” Faulkner said.

“Hopefully, we’re there, or thereabouts, when it’s finals time.

“We’re obviously looking to go back-to-back, but having said that we’ve got to contend with the first round up north against the Raiders and try and get the ball rolling.

“A one-dayer is good as an opening round, it settles everyone and gets everyone into the competition.”

Cricket Tasmania Premier League, University capatain James Faulkner at Blundstone Arena. Picture: Chris Kidd

Uni has a couple of gun recruits and Faulkner warned the opposition teams would need to keep their eyes on them.

“We’ve got a couple of boys from interstate and you’ll learn about them pretty fast – they are very skilful players,” he said.

“We’ve got a couple of young guns as well in Louis Smith and Zac Phair, and hopefully they can have breakout seasons.

“Louis is also an all-rounder. He’s young, he’s keen, he’s got good height and he has a crack. He will get every opportunity this season.

“Zac has a good temperament at the top of the order. He posted some good scores last season, a couple of 90s, and I’m looking forward to him opening the season and posting some good scores.”

With Blundstone Arena unavailable, Clarence and Glenorchy meet at Ferguson Park near Brighton, Kingborough and North Hobart play at the Twin Ovals, and Lindisfarne is at home to New Town.

Cricket Tasmania Premier League, Back (L-R): Laura Johnson (Lindisfarne), Ryan Delaney (Brighton), Kirsten Allen (Glenorchy), James Faulkner (University of Tasmania), James Beattie (Greater Northern Raiders), Keegan Oates (Lindisfarne), Emily Mifsud (New Town), Justin Galeotti (Clarence), Louise Maddock (University of Tasmania), Thomas Martyn (Kingborough), Sasha Moloney (Greater Northern Raiders) Front (L -R): Ben Manenti (New Town), Grace Pullen (North Hobart), Sean Willis (South Hobart Sandy Bay), Alice Kelly (Kingborough), Tushaar Garg (Glenorchy), Taylor Brooks (Clarence), Hannah Powe (South Hobart/ Sandy Bay), Jack White (North Hobart). Picture: Chris Kidd

CTPL’s top recruits this summer:

Clarence

Kieran Elliott – Melbourne CC (VIC)

Brayden Stephien – Carlton CC (VIC)

Glenorchy

Tushaar Garg – Sutherland CC (NSW)

Josh Hartill – Ringwood CC (VIC)

GN Raiders

Evan Gulbis – Carlton CC (VIC)

Lindisfarne

Kingborough

Niviethan Radhakrishnan – Sydney University CC (NSW)*

New Town

Ben Manenti – Sydney CC (NSW)

Anthony Mosca – Sydney CC (NSW)

North Hobart

Yousaf Iqbal (Melbourne University CC)

South Hobart-Sandy Bay

Eamonn Vines - Geelong CC (VIC)

Cameron Valente – Adelaide CC (SA)

University

Param Uppal – Fairfield Liverpool (NSW)

Brad Hope – Claremont/Nedlands CC (WA)*

*denotes CT contracted player

CLUB BY CLUB GUIDE

CLARENCE

Coach: Harry Allanby

Captain: Michael Jones

Last season: 3rd

Gains: Brayden Stepien (Carlton CC), Kieran Elliott (Melbourne CC), Sam Leon (University CC), Alec Smith (injury)

Losses: Alex Treanor (year off), Ben Rohrer (Victoria)

Coach’s comments: Really excited for the season. We’ve gained some really talented cricketers and the development of our younger guys will add depth and competition for spots. Looking forward to the challenge of chasing Uni and North Hobart, who were clearly the best two teams last year.

The retirement of Nathan Matthews will leave a big hole to fill in the Glenorchy side. Picture: Zak Simmonds

GLENORCHY

Coach: Brett Geeves

Captain: Brett Geeves

Last season: 5th

Gains: Tushaar Garg (Sutherland), Joshua Hartill (Ringwood), Lachlan Rowlands (Lindisfarne), Bill Dodd (New Norfolk), Harry Thomas (Cygnet)

Losses: Nathan Matthews (retired), Matt Fotia (VIC), James Bowen (VIC), Charlie Eastoe (Launceston), Umair Butt (SHSB)

Coach’s comments: The retirement of club legend Nathan Matthews is a major loss for the club and it signifies a new era for our club. With the departures of our senior leaders from last year to retirement, home ports and individual pursuit, our focus this winter, and for the season, is on the identification and development of leaders who value the GCC and the people/region it represents. From a playing perspective, the group is young and skilled. If they can learn quickly the importance of key moments and how to navigate them successfully, we will be in the mix for finals across all grades.

Evan Gulbis will play for Greater Northern until the borders reopen with Victoria.

GREATER NORTHERN

Coach: Tim Coyle

Captain: Oliver Wood

Last season: 8th

Gains: Charlie Eastoe (ex-Glenorchy), Dravid Rao (Dandenong CC), Evan Gulbis (Carlton CC, will play with GNR until borders reopen and travel between Tasmania and Melbourne is unrestricted)

Losses: Miles Barnard (knee injury)

Coach’s comments: The squad remains similar to last season outside the addition of the above.

The loss of Barnard is a significant one but we are confident through recruitment and the natural development of our young players such as Anthes, Hayes, Simpson (currently injured) O’Mahony and Bennett our batting will stand up. We are expecting to see more of Alastair Taylor this season, which is a huge plus with the bat and behind the stumps.

The bowling group lead by Jono Chapman will be competitive and has a good mix of experience and youth. Our two young quicks in Ben Spinks and Dihan Cloete have impressed in the pre-season. The spin department has been strengthened by the addition of Rao and we will look for the continued improvement of Will Bennett and Cooper Anthes.

Ollie Wood, supported by Jono Chapman and Charlie Eastoe, will take on the captaincy role.

Our focus is to continue to improve and develop the Raiders brand to become a force in the CTPL. We understand there will be ups and downs but our learnings from last season have given us an increased level of belief in what can achieved.

KINGBOROUGH

Coach: Richard Cowlard

Captain: Thomas Martyn

Last season: 9th

Gains: Nivethan Radhakrishnan (Sydney University), Anthony Adlam (Mosman)

Losses: Tom Bevan (Longley), Bryce Turnbull (Longley)

Coach’s comments: Players continue to demonstrate strong playing ability in the lead up to season launch. They are focusing on a positive mindset and physical fitness to strengthen personal playing capabilities. Due to their unorthodox approach, the coaching staff are excited to see what the new recruits bring to the club and how they will influence our playing list. The Knights’ goal this season is to improve our overall performance at a 1st grade level whilst leveraging our strong player connections to influence all grades.

LINDISFARNE

Coach: Matthew Wilkie

Captain: Charlie Wakim

Last season: 4th

Gains: Nil

Losses: Declan Waddington (moving interstate), Ryan Neal (moving interstate)

Coach’s comments: This season will test our depth again with the likelihood of not having our Tigers players very often. However, this presents an exciting opportunity for some very talented young players coming through that have been working very hard in the pre-season.

New Town recruits Ben Manenti and Anthony Mosca. Picture: Mireille Merlet

NEW TOWN

Coach: Peter Di Venuto

Captain: Mitchell Owen

Last season: 7th

Gains: David Burk (returning), Anthony Mosca (Sydney), Ben Manenti (Sydney), Harry Manenti (Sydney), Jack Di Venuto (University), Jack Montgomery (Moree)

Losses: Thomas Gravina (injured), Tafara Mupariwa (Zimbabwe)

Coach’s comments: Finishing last season with four wins from the final seven games was a just reward for the efforts the playing group have put into improve their games over the past two years. For our club this has been a natural build, however, adding some experienced cricketers and quality youth has undoubtedly seen a strengthening of our playing list. Off field we have also added two fantastic coaches to support our playing group in Nigel Horsley and Brad Loveluck. This provides us with four level three high performance coaches within our cricket coaching structure and I can’t wait to see the accelerated development of our players across the club and the results they’ll produce.

New North Hobart recruit Yousaf Iqbal. Picture: Mark Wilson

NORTH HOBART

Coach: Alex Pyecroft

Captain: Tom Rogers

Last season: Two Day and One Day runners up, T20 premiers

Gains: Yousaf Iqbal (Melbourne Uni)

Losses: Patrick Page Jnr (SA), Sam Lewis-Johnson (St Aidans), Isaac Manson

Coach’s comments: After making all the finals last year in 1st Grade, we are going to push to do this again with the hope of coming away with more silverware. Whilst disappointing to lose a few players, Yousaf Iqbal is a great addition and we are looking forward to how he can have some impact for us. There’s also a big focus on overall club success for us this year so we are really looking for our 2nd grade, 3rd grade and under-17s players to be pushing for selection up the grades with consistent performances.

SOUTH HOBART-SANDY BAY

Coach: Harry Nichols

Captain: Harry Nichols

Last season: 6th

Gains: Eamonn Vines (Victoria & Geelong CC), Umair Butt (Glenorchy), Cameron Valente (South Australia & Adelaide CC)

Loses: Nil

Coach’s comments: Our squad depth across all three senior grades has never been so strong. We have added some pure quality at the top. At a first grade level we have retained Alex Doolan post professional retirement and Ben Dunk will play more regularly than he has in previous years. The Sharks have the two best young local spinners in the comp in Tom Willoughby and Caedence Kuepper, who are both set for breakout years.

Second grade Sharks become the hunted as they enter this year trying to repeat premiership glory, whilst the third grade side look to take their runner up one better.

We wouldn’t be as well placed as a club if not for our three supreme leaders: Sean Willis (1st grade), Perry Mannering (2nd Grade) and Wills Thompson (3rd grade)

With that, we as a club set our benchmark at winning the club championship. If we win that, our sides will be in finals and we give ourselves every chance of picking up silverware in March.

UNIVERSITY

Coach: Damien Wright

Captain: Jake Doran (One-Day), James Faulkner (Two-Day)

Last season: Runner up T20, Premiers One Day and Two Day competitions.

Gains: Bradley Hope (Claremont-Nedlands, WA) Param Uppal (Fairfireld-Liverpool, NSW)

Losses: Jack Di Venuto (New Town), Sam Leon (Clarence)

Coach’s comments (From assistant coach James Craig):

University Cricket Club has had a solid planned pre-season with a focus built around the strength and fitness of the entire group.

We are looking to improve on the success of season 2020/21 with the significant inclusions of Hope and Uppal rounding out an already strong and talented line up of home grown players for the 2021-22 season.

SEASON PREVIEW: Players on the hunt in CTPL opener

THE nine CTPL teams are all geared up heading into the opening round of the new CTPL season on Saturdaywith 17 new players joining the competition across the men’s and women’s first grade teams this summer.

Cricket Tasmania Premier League. Men, Back (L-R) Ryan Delaney (Brighton), James Faulkner (University), James Beattie (Greater Northern Raiders), Keegan Oats (Lindisfarne), Justin Galeotti (Clarence), Thomas Martin (Kingborough), Front (L-R) Ben Manenti (New Town), Sean Willis (South Hobart/ Sandy Bay), Tushaar Carg (Glenorchy) and Jack White (North Hobart) at Blundstone Arena. Picture: Chris Kidd

Aside from the newly-contracted Tigers players, new recruits for season 2021-22 include Sydney Sixers contracted player, Ben Manenti (New Town), and former South Australian and Adelaide Strikers batsman, Cameron Valente (South Hobart-Sandy Bay).

Manenti, a 24-year-old all-rounder, joined the Bucks for the “opportunity”.

“It was the chance to try something new _ New South Wales was getting a bit stale,” he said.

“So I moved somewhere new for cricket and lifestyle.”

Manenti believes he still has plenty of first class cricket to give.

“I’d like to think so. There’s a lot that can happen in cricket _ I could be out on my arse tomorrow or I could go for five more years _ I’ll take it as it comes,” he said.

Manenti looked at his options in the Hobart competition before settling on New Town.

“I came down here about four months ago and had a look at a few clubs and landed at New Town,” he said.

“I’ve loved it since I moved down.”

Cricket Tasmania Premier League. Women, Back (L-R) Kirsten Allen (Glenorchy), Laura Johnson (Lindisfarne), Louise Maddock (University), Emily Mifsud (New Town), Sasha Moloney (Greater Northern raiders), front (L-R) Grace Pullen (North Hobart), Hannah Powe (South Hobart/ Sandy Bay), Taylor Brooks (Clarence) and Alice Kelly (Kingborough) at Blundstone Arena. Picture: Chris Kidd

The Bucks face Lindisfarne in the opening round of one-dayers, and Manenti relishes the chance to come face-to-face on the field with some Tigers.

“We should have a lot of good cricketers out on the park this weekend for all the teams so hopefully the rain stays away and we can get some cricket under our belts,” he said.

Tasmanian Tigers women’s captain Sasha Moloney said the outlook for her Northern Raiders was positive.

“Hopefully we can make the finals,” Moloney said.

Cricket Tasmania Premier League, Sash Moloney (Greater Northern Raiders) at Blundstone Arena. Picture: Chris Kidd

“I haven’t trained with our girls. They are all up in Launceston and on the North-West Coast but the reports are they are going well, training hard and expecting big things this season.”

Cricket Tasmania’s CEO, Dominic Baker, said it was fantastic to see the state’s premier club competition continue as a successful breeding ground for state-level players.

“The Wilson Homes CTPL is such a crucial part of our Tasmanian cricket pathway, and despite all the challenges that have faced our sport over the past couple of years, it’s fantastic to see this competition continuing to go from strength-to-strength,” Baker said.

Originally published as Lions are on the prowl as 2021-22 CTPL season hits off