Raiders arrive in CTPL, and they mean business

THE Greater Northern Raiders might be the new kids on the block in the CTPL but they are determined to make an immed­iate impact.

Greater Northern Raiders coach Andrew Gower, centre, with players Brodie Hayes, left, and vice captain Alistair Taylor. PICTURE CHRIS KIDD

THE Greater Northern Raiders might be the new kids on the block in the CTPL but the composition side from the North and North-West is determined to make an immed­iate impact.

In an effort to provide more opportunities to younger players in the two regions to experience a higher level of cricket, the Raiders join the southern roster for the first time in 2018-19.

The side will open its campaign at the Twin Ovals on Saturday against Kingborough, with coach Andrew Gower confident the group can mix it with their southern counterparts.

While Gower is well aware when Tasmanian players are available for club cricket the task for his men will be all the harder, he expects — and will demand — that his group remains competitive.

“We want to win some games, that is the No.1 priority, to be competitive,” Gower said.

“We don’t want to get blown out of the water and we want to represent ourselves right and go about it the right way.

“We are hopeful looking at the sides in Hobart, when shield players are out we think we are going to be very competitive and we can mix it with some of the sides.

“The guys in the squad have played representative cricket so we know the wickets are going to be a lot better, they will be a lot faster and that will suit some of our playmakers.

“We are quite excited about the prospect of playing at Twin Ovals in Round 1 — it will be bouncy, it will be hard, the good players stand up in those conditions.”

Gower is confident the squad the Raiders have assembled have embraced the concept, despite the organisation­ starting from scratch and with players still connected to their local clubs.

And while some players from the region declined to be part of the initiative, others jumped at the chance.

“We have a good squad of 20 players who are committed and have been training since the middle of July,” Gower said.

“The group of guys we have got is fairly young, they don’t come with a lot of experience at club cricket where they are 10 years-plus players who are born and bred and grown into that club. They have all been in the Tassie underage system, played representative cricket for the NTCA, all those sorts of things, I think they have come together really­ nicely.

“It was then nice to bring in some of those 17, 19-year-old kids who have ambitions to play for Tassie, this is a good opportunity for them to put their toe in the water.”

HANDY PICK-UP: University has gained former Bangladesh under-19 international Pinak Ghosh. Picture: Dianne Manson-IDI/IDI via Getty

There has been little movement among the contending southern clubs ahead of the season, with reigning premier Clarence offsetting the loss of quick Cameron Stevenson with the addition of Tigers rookie Lawrence Neil-Smith, while Alec Smith has impressed during the pre-season having moved from Launceston.

Former Tigers coach Dan Marsh has taken the reins at North Hobart, with the Demons bolstered by Tom Rogers and Kade Appleby from Glenorchy as they look to atone for back-to-back grand final losses.

Lindisfarne has lost Luke Doran to Kingborough, but will have a full season from emerging state all-rounder Jarrod Freeman, while South Hobart-Sandy Bay has regained Trent Keep, who will be keen to pile on the runs to show state selectors he deserves a look-in for higher honours.

Both Kingborough and Univer­sity will be striving to improve on last year’s two-day form to push for finals contention, with the latter obtaining the services of former Bangladesh under-19 international Pinak Ghosh.

Glenorchy and New Town — who have both had the most sig­nificant player turnover from last season — face tough asks to lift themselves from the bottom of the CTPL table.

The addition of the Raiders to the competition also adds at least one bye to each round, with Uni, South-Sandy and New Town all having an extra week to prepare.

Clarence hosts Glenorchy at Kangaroo Bay while Lindisfarne and North Hobart meet at Pontville in Saturday’s other opening-round Kookaburra Cup fixtures.

THE TEAMS

CLARENCE

Coach: Dan Salpietro

Captain: Harry Allanby

Last year: Premiers

Gains: Lawrence Neil-Smith (Tigers rookie), Alec Smith (Launceston)

Losses: Cameron Stevenson (Victoria)

Coach’s comment: “I don’t think there is any added weight on us having to perform, we just pride ourselves on being the most consistent — nothing changes from that aspect. It is a nice feeling coming off winning the premiership, but no extra pressure.”

GLENORCHY

Coach: Michael Knight

Captain: Nathan Matthews

Last year: eighth

Gains: Nuwan Kavinda (Chilaw Marians via East Doncaster), Umair Butt (Melbourne), Usman Afzal (Melbourne), Jyles Horne (Clarence), Blake Mayne (Clarence), Siddhant Singh (University), Naveen Panwar (ICSL), Deepak Janoti (ICSL), Damien West (Claremont)

Losses: Tom Rogers (North Hobart), Kade Appleby (North Hobart), James Whiteley (Launceston), Richie Dilger (Wellington), Jacob Kooran (Melb)

Coach’s comment: “We are really focused on the guys to be in games for longer stretches. They had a couple of really long days in the field where we chased a lot of leather, so we are looking at minimising the damage on those days and hanging tougher for longer in matches.”

GREATER NORTHERN

Coach: Andrew Gower

Captain: Miles Barnard

Last year: N/A

Squad: Miles Barnard (Devonport), James Beattie (South Launceston), Corey Briggs (Westbury), Tom Gray (Launceston), Brodie Hayes (Burnie), Alex Kerrison (Westbury), Lachie Newland (Launceston), Shaun Redman (Burnie), Alistair Taylor (Launceston), Jake Williams (Westbury), Oliver Wood (Westbury), Brady Yates (Burnie)

Coach’s comment: “Bowling is going to be our strength, that’s no secret. We have four or five really good batters but our bowling is an area of strength and we will continue developing the batters and hopefully someone can stick their hand up and have a really good season.”

KINGBOROUGH

Coach: Clive Rose

Captain: Clive Rose

Last year: sixth

Gains: Luke Doran (Lindisfarne), Gurinder Sandhu (NSW)

Losses: Cameron Wheatley (Kettering)

Coach’s comment: “If we are going to make the top four or play finals and be competitive in finals, we are going to need contributions from some of our young guys. We can’t rely on two or three players like we have in the past.”

LINDISFARNE

Coach: Matt Wilkie

Captain: Charlie Wakim

Last year: fourth

Gains: Jarrod Freeman (Launceston)

Losses: Luke Doran (Kingborough)

Coach’s comment: “Most of our focus has been on the younger guys and developing them more to build a bit of depth in our club. We have a few state players now who when they are away, and someone like Ben McDermott is quite an established state player, so when he is away and when some of the other guys are on tours we can be competitive all season.”

NEW TOWN

Coach: Tawanda Mupariwa

Captain: Hugh Williams

Last year: seventh

Gains: Bill Dodd (University), Jack Kessell (Adelaide)

Losses: Danny Lamb (Lancashire), Josh Doyle (Queensland), Andrew Fekete (Victoria), Jake Hancock (Victoria), Brad Loveluck (Victoria), Luke Shelton (Queensland), Chris Densby (Darwin)

Coach’s comment: “We are using this season as an opportunity to rebuild the club and give the young guys opportunities. If you look at some of the guys who came from the mainland in the past few years, they are always going to go back and it is hard to fill that gap.”

NORTH HOBART

Coach: Dan Marsh

Captain: Jordan Silk

Last year: runners-up

Gains: Tom Rogers (Glenorchy), Kade Appleby (Glenorchy)

Losses: Cam Boyce (Queensland), Kyle Scrimgeour (Adelaide), James Beattie (Northern Raiders)

Coach’s comment: “Our Twenty20 and one-day cricket, I would like us to improve in. I don’t think we have made the finals there for a little while, particularly the Kookaburra Cup. For me, it is that continued development of the players, if they are getting better then our team is going to get better as we evolve.”

SOUTH HOBART-SANDY BAY

Coach: Matt Clark

Captain: Sean Willis

Last year: third, and Twenty20 premiers

Gains: Trent Keep (Latrobe)

Losses: none

Coach’s comment: “Any year where you are in a situation to win more silverware [making last year’s grand final] and you don’t come away with it is slightly disappointing. It is an exciting time for the club but at the same time it is time to make the most of some of these opportunities we are presented with.”

UNIVERSITY

Coach: Ben Harrison

Captain: Nick Grubb

Last year: fifth, and Kookaburra Cup premiers

Gains: Pinak Ghosh (Bangladesh under-19s), Jackson Swain (returning)

Losses: Jack Laraman (UK), Andrew Perrin (Victoria), Bill Dodd (New Town)

Coach’s comment: “We will offer opportunities to the young blokes and get games into them. If you don’t, you will end up in that gap period and I think the club has suffered from that previously. If our effort pays off in the key moments and we can get ourselves into the competition at the business end like we did in the Kookaburra Cup last year, we showed we can be dangerous.”