Clarence and New Town set for blockbuster CTPL Twenty20 grand final
Clarence and New Town are set for blockbuster CTPL Twenty20 grand final at New Town Oval on Wednesday night. Here’s what both sides had to say.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A licence to thrill has been issued to Clarence and New Town batsmen for their CTPL T20 grand final tomorrow night and both teams have promised to light up New Town Oval in a white-ball blockbuster.
After being nowhere near being in contention for the title last season, the Roos and Bucks have been in exceptional T20 form this summer.
The last time they met was on last Saturday night when Clarence pipped New Town with three balls to spare.
New Town all-rounder Anthony Mosca top-scored for the Bucks with 40 runs off 32 balls, and Clarence paceman Sam Rainbird took 4-26 — one of his wickets was Mosca.
Rainbird said a traditionally strong bowling line-up had been met by a massive T20 improvement from the batters.
“We’ve made a few changes with the way we go about our T20 cricket,” Rainbird said.
“Mike Jones, our skipper, has come in with a fresh attitude and it has shown in the way we have been more attacking this year whereas in previous years we’ve been a bit more defensive or tentative and you can’t been that way in T20 cricket.
“We are quietly happy with the way we are going but it’s going to be a tough game.
“It’s going to be tough against New Town, it always is, but if we stick to our processes hopefully it goes well.”
After some lean years New Town is looking forward to adding to its trophy cabinet.
“New Town has got a very proud history but there were a few years where we didn’t have too much success,” Mosca said.
“But we won a red ball competition a few years ago and now we’re looking forward to putting this T20 trophy in the cabinet.”
Roos opening bowler Sam Leon has been sent to the top of the batting order as a T20 opener.
“Our bowling has probably been our strength over the past couple of years in T20 but we’ve just found we haven’t had enough runs on the board to defend or in chases we haven’t been free enough to get out there and dominate the chase _ we’ve been a bit tentative,” Rainbird said.
“Sam Leon, who bats quite well, has gone up the top and been quite aggressive opening the batting, and just more of a licence to get the boundary count going our way and that has paid off.”
Mosca hopes playing the game at New Town will give the Bucks and advantage. The final starts at 5.15pm.
‘One of the best’: Tasmanian legend gets Hall of Fame nod
Regarded by some as one the best Tasmanian of all time to never play in the VFL, Dale Flint was named in the Tasmania Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Keep up to date with the latest exploits of our Tassie stars in Sports Shorts.
Why Bombers believe zones, not points, is northern footy’s best hope
The player points system won’t give them many issues, but North Launceston believes a greater northern zone system remains football’s best way forward as it begins a tough restructure.