Elliot Stevenson
Kingborough seamer Alex Vincent has taken an extraordinary nine wickets against Glenorchy in the first week of CTPL action following the holiday break.
The Knights remained wicketless until the 12th over, when Vincent was brought on to bowl to Magpies openers Ryan Graham-Daft and Nick Potts.
He dismissed Graham-Daft with his fourth ball, the first domino to fall in a long line of victims.
Potts was gone the next over, then Hartill, Rolle, Kopper, Horne, Green, Lovell and finally Bowen to end Glenorchy’s misery on 157.
Captain-coach Tom Martyn, who took the remaining sole wicket, is still marvelling at the feat.
“It was unbelievable,” he said.
“Everything he touched turned to gold.
“It was one of those things where you don’t reflect back until 24 hours later and you think geez that was amazing.”
Vincent finished with figures of 9/40 off 18 overs, taking home a well-deserved match ball.
Martyn did not diminish the performance of the rest of the Knights attack.
“We were really pleased with how be bowled as a whole and the pressure we were able to build from both ends,” he said.
“Obviously, Alex got the rewards with the nine wickets, but all our bowlers went at about two runs an over.”
Kingborough are in a dominant position at stumps, with Nivethan Radhakrishnan [38 not out 67 balls] and Zak Honeybrook [22 not out off 39 balls] powering the home side to 0-82, just 75 runs behind their opponents.
Martyn ensures there is still a job to do, despite the state of the game being in his sides favour.
“Most importantly we’ll try and knock off these runs,” he said.
“And then just assess the first half hour, how it’s tracking and how the wicket is playing.
“From there we’ll try and build and control the game, and potentially look for an outright result.”
Clarence flexed its muscles against North Hobart, piling on 7-361 before declaring late on day one.
Michael Jones [53 off 92 balls], Lawrence Neil-Smith [72 off 108 balls], and Harry Allanby [54 not out off 97 balls] all played supporting roles to the brilliant hitting of Sam Rainbird.
Rainbird [101 not out off 70 balls] demonstrated his skill with the bat, hitting 17 boundaries on his way to his first century of the season.
North Hobart will resume play at 1-20, losing young opener Harry McHugh in the final session on Saturday.
New Town will have to bowl strongly next weekend if it wants to win its first 2-day match of the season, following an indifferent day one against Lindisfarne.
A returning Jarrod Freeman took 5/77 for the Lightning, helping to restrict the Bucks to 235.
Joe Graham made his first CTPL half-century for New Town, will little in the way of support from his teammates.
Lindisfarne ended the day at 0-57, 178 runs behind the target, with wicket-keeper Tom McGann, and the dangerous Mac Wright together at the crease.
Wright [38 off 30 balls not out] has already hit seven boundaries, including three sixes, to put a sizable dent in the Bucks’ total.
Veteran all-rounder Jonathan Chapman continues to perform to a high level for the Greater Northern Raiders, taking 5/37 off 17.3 overs against South Hobart-Sandy Bay.
The Sharks managed 198, largely due to lower order digs from Archie Banks-Smith [44 off 64 balls] and Gabe Bell [44 off 63 balls].
The Raiders have begun their chase strongly off the back of Kaidyn Apted [54 off 95 balls], and will resume day two at 2-128, requiring 70 to win.
Ethan Clark and young gun Aidan O’Connor will continue at the crease for the visitors.
In the women’s competition, Clarence has pulled off a massive chase to get the better of Greater Northern in the first round of one-day matchups.
Raiders opening pair Emma Manix-Geeves [120 off 132 balls] and Ruth Johnston [80 off 96 balls] fired the home side to a first innings score of 4-287.
However, the duo was outshone by the individual brilliance of Hobart Hurricanes batsman Tabatha Saville, who made 167 off just 111 balls, including a monstrous 27 boundaries.
It’s Saville’s first century since two seasons ago, when she was playing for Glenelg in South Australia.
The Roos chased down the target with 10.5 overs to spare, marking their third win in a row, following the beginning of the season in which they failed to win in ten games.
North Hobart has cruised to victory over recent T20 premiers New Town at the TCA Ground, chasing down 154 with 28.5 overs remaining.
Lizelle Lee [43 off 41 balls] started strongly for the Bucks, but Nicola Carey’s 4/20 restricted the batting side from doing too much damage.
It was the story of another opening pair deciding a game, with Elyse Villani [50 off 56 balls] and Naomi Stalenberg [64 not out 50 balls] ensuring a simple victory for North Hobart, one that takes them to first on the one-day ladder.
Stalenberg’s first game for the Demons this season proved to be a successful one as she belted a quickfire half-century.
*Photo courtesy of Solstice Digital*