ELLIOT STEVENSON
Glenorchy plays its first game at KGV in over a month as Greater Northern travel south for a crucial clash in round 20 of the CTPL season.
The Magpies last played at their home ground on the 5th of December last year, in a T20 game in which they won by eight wickets against Clarence.
Since then, Josh Hartill’s team are winless in five, a run of form they will be aiming to eliminate in this weekend’s match.
Hartill admits the prospect of playing at home again is an enticing one.
“It’s awesome getting back to KGV,” he said.
“We play a really good brand of cricket there.
“Over the last couple of years, we’ve embraced the conditions.”
The Magpies are yet to come out on top in a game in the two-day format, but for Hartill, it’s more about consistent performances rather than wins and losses.
“We’re just looking to play some consistent cricket over the course of the two days,” he said.
“Taking it session-by-session, with bowlers and batters having clear plans on how we want to play.
“We’ve had periods where we’ve dominated other teams, and then a bad couple of overs or a bad thirty minutes here or there has lost us games.”
Glenorchy will likely field an unchanged team for the upcoming match with the Raiders, reflective of its aims for consistency.
“We’ve been similar over the last couple of weeks,” Hartill said.
“It’s nice to have similar players playing each week.”
Greater Northern sits five points out of the top four, with a win against Glenorchy likely to see the Raiders enter the top four.
They will be boosted by the return of numerous key players from the Australian Country Cricket Championships, including Tom Dwyer and Brayden DeVries.
New Town also welcomes back a host of players from South Australia, adding talents such as Jesse Willmott and Caelan Maladay to last weekend’s winning lineup.
They host a University team that is fresh off of the bye at New Town Oval.
The Lions hold a slender lead at the top of the ladder, a two-point buffer ahead of Kingborough in second.
New Town is third, with a win this weekend sure to put the Bucks in the conversation for a home final.
Both South Hobart-Sandy Bay and North Hobart are looking to bounce back from heavy defeats last week to Greater Northern and Clarence respectively.
The Sharks will be glad to have the competitions seventh-highest run scorer Sam Voss back in the team as they aim to retain their spot in the top four.
The Demons narrowly avoided an outright loss to Clarence last weekend, their only two-day victory of the season so far coming against New Town in November.
Kingborough’s undefeated red-ball season will be tested by Clarence at the Twin Ovals.
The Knights have defeated Glenorchy and Lindisfarne so far in the format, with a big test set to begin on Saturday.
The return of young leg-spinner, James Scott, is a welcome addition to the in-form Kingborough outfit, which needs a win and a University loss to soar to the apex of the ladder.
Clarence has begun its season turnaround, winning its past two games against Glenorchy and North Hobart, and may continue its climb with an upset win in Kingston.
The Roos will have to do it without the young trio of Luca Di Venuto, Riley Whitelaw, and Hayden Clark-Sullivan, who will be in Launceston for the U17 National Championships.
Whitelaw and Clark-Sullivan will be co-captaining the side as they take on the other states.
All two-day games this weekend are to be played across Saturday and Sunday, rather than over two separate Saturdays.
In the women’s competition, North Hobart’s one-day undefeated streak returns to where it began as they take on T20 premiers New Town at the TCA Ground.
Sunday’s game will be the fifth played between the two sides this season, with the Demons holding a 3-1 record over their rivals.
In the most recent matchup, North Hobart comfortably chased down New Town’s total, winning by eight wickets.
In another game between an undefeated team, and a winless team, occurs between Clarence and Greater Northern.
After not seeing a victory in their opening 10 matches, the Roos have turned their season on its head, winning four straight games between the conclusion of the T20 season and the beginning of the one-day campaign.
In contrast, Greater Northern is winless since November, despite an appearance in the T20 grand final.
Sunday’s game at Kangaroo Bay will either mark the return to seeming normality for both teams, or a continuation of unheralded results.