Cricket Tasmania refuses to feel threatened by state’s newest sport team the JackJumpers
The JackJumpers may be the new kid on the block but Cricket Tasmania’s CEO has refuted any talk of feeling “threatened” by the NBL’s newest club. LATEST >>
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Son of “Big Mac” first JackJumpers free agent signing
- Test cricket returns to Hobart with historic battle
THE JackJumpers may be the new kid on the block but Cricket Tasmania CEO Dominic Baker has refuted any talk of feeling “threatened” by the NBL’s newest club.
CT has provided the state’s only full-time professional sporting teams since the collapse of the Devils from the top tier of Australian sport in 1996.
But with the JackJumpers embarking on their inaugural NBL season in 2021-22, cricket — and the summer centrepiece of the Big Bash League — is about to have some competition.
If Baker has any concerns about what impact basketball is set to have on the country’s traditional summer sport in Tasmania, he isn’t showing it.
“We’ve been out here on our own for 40 years, as the only full time professional organisation in sport,” Baker said.
“They can hold 5000 [fans at the Derwent Entertainment Centre], we average 10,500, we get 900,000 viewers, they get 20,000 viewers.
“I’m not really that concerned around what it will do to us as an organisation.
“We would actually like to at some point be able to work with them, so that we can help guarantee their sustainability because what we do know is people love the Hurricanes.
“We are the summer sport, cricket is Australia’s summer sport, and we’ll continue to put stuff in front of fans that brings them through the gates.
“We want to work with the NBL to make sure we’re not clashing with them so that they can make the best out of their crowds and we can make the best out of ours, that we’re not poaching each other’s sponsors or people.
“Threat would be a word that I wouldn’t be using about the JackJumpers.”
The JackJumpers have signed more than 1700 members since launching packages two weeks ago, while CT memberships went on sale today.
“Speaking from a cricket perspective, our members goes on sale and today we’ve already got the turnstiles ticking from a membership perspective in fact, to a level that we’ve never had before for the first day of sales,” Baker said.
“I think when you see the cost of the JackJumpers compared to what it is to bring a family to the cricket, it’s going to be a big difference.”
Tigers on prowl for new coach
CRICKET Tasmania is on the hunt for a new head coach of the Tigers program after Jeff Vaughan landed a job as a national assistant.
Vaughan took the reins of the Sheffield Shield and One Day Cup sides last season following a restructure which saw Adam Griffith move into a director of coaching role, allowing him to also concentrate on the Hobart Hurricanes in the BBL.
But now just three months out from the start of the 2021-22 campaign CT is on the hunt for Vaughan’s replacement after the highly respected figure earned a promotion to join Justin Langer’s team ahead of a blockbuster summer involving the defence of the Ashes.
Australia will also host a historic first ever Test against Afghanistan in Hobart in November — Vaughan’s first official match involved within the national set-up.
“As anyone who’s involved in the game from five or six years of age, you’ve got a desire or a dream to represent your country,” Vaughan said.
“Only a few get to do it as a player, and probably less get to do it as a coach so it’s something that’s always been a dream of mine to be involved in an international system.
“Opportunities don’t arise all the time so this is one that landed on the table and thought I’d put myself in for it.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here and I’m indebted to the organisation for an opportunity four years ago.
“But the lure of testing my skills on the international stage is probably a little bit too high.”
Vaughan will become the Australian fielding coach, while another Tasmanian Michael Di Venuto, who joined the Hurricanes for BBL|10, also returns to the national fold as an assistant.
CT chief Dominic Baker said it was a bittersweet day for the organisation, which will advertise immediately and intends to keep the Tigers and Hurricanes programs separate.
“As an organisation we’re rapt to see that we’ve got people of the caliber of Jeff coming through the system and being taken out of our programs and going into to the national programs,” Baker said.
“ Of course, it is with some sadness because we’ve watched Jeff’s progression … with great joy really to watch him develop over the last 12 months.
“We certainly saw something in Jeff and that’s the reason why he got the program to manage himself, unfortunately Justin Langer saw the same thing.
“This is one of only six jobs in the country and in a competition that is being widely seen as the second best cricket competition in the world behind international cricket. I don’t know that we’ll have trouble getting people to put their hand up for the role.
“One of the lessons that we’ve learned over the last 12 months is splitting the program has worked, it is a bloody big job for one coach to be managing both sides of the program and to manage it effectively.
“We would like to keep them separated, but we’re going to throw it to the market and see what comes back.”
Vaughan will remain with CT until next month.
Crisis time: Roo fury over NTFA demotion bid
The Deloraine Kangaroos are hopping mad after a failed bid to demote them from the inaugural NTFA Premier League has left league officials scrambling for answers.
Inside the plans to renew north against south footy rivalries
The evolution of Tasmanian football is almost complete with the north against south rivalries set for a new chapter. Here’s what we know with the changes close to completion.