Elliot Stevenson
North Hobart has won the Women’s CTPL One-Day Grand Final against Greater Northern Raiders, with 14-year-old Mia Barwick winning the Hannah Short Player of the Match Award.
Barwick took 5/41 off 9 overs to stave off the Raiders’ attempted chase of 248, in what is remarkably her second player of the match performance in back-to-back grand finals.
Demons coach Stef Daffara is putting no ceiling on what Barwick can achieve as a cricketer.
“It was pretty incredible,” she said.
“Mia is an outstanding young player.
“She has a lot of character and a lot of confidence.”
Barwick also won the player of the match in last season's T20 Grand Final against the same opponent, adding to her stacked resume.
“I’m so happy that she’s at North Hobart because she’s a wonderful player, but also an amazing person,” Daffara said.
“We can’t wait to see how she develops as a cricketer.”
North Hobart began the match with an 86-run opening partnership between Melodie Armstrong [48 off 78 balls] and Naomi Stalenberg [50 off 53 balls], before losing four relatively quick wickets in the middle order.
Hannah Short [33 off 37 balls] and Molly Strano [45 off 55 balls] were able to steer the Demons back on track, and they finished on 8-248 at the close of the innings.
It was a one-woman show as far as the Raiders batting was concerned, with Hayley Silver-Holmes hitting 66 off 84 balls in a solo effort.
Barwick took the key wickets of Silver-Holmes and Raiders captain Ava Curtis, before cleaning up the tail to secure the victory.
“I’m incredibly proud of them,” Daffara said.
“It’s felt like it’s been a really long season.
“We probably didn’t play as consistently throughout the season as we would’ve liked.
“But we’ve got to the final and put together our best one-day performance.”
Greater Northern were dismissed for 191, and North Hobart ran out 57-run premiership winners.
It was a remarkable in-season turnaround from the Demons, having missed out of the T20 Grand Final by four points.
Daffara says the upturn of form cannot be attributed to any change of strategy, but rather a maintenance of belief in their approach.
“We sat down as a leadership group after missing out on the T20 final, and we just clarified our team plans,” she said.
“They didn’t change too much.
“It was just keeping things really simple and backing ourselves in.
“It think we started to execute better on the field and put together some complete performances.”
It’s North Hobart’s second one-day premiership in two years, and third over the last four years, a period of major success for the team in red and blue.
In the men’s competition, the semi-finals are set following a hectic weekend of cricket, with Greater Northern setting up a date with University on Saturday.
The Raiders needed to defeat Lindisfarne to qualify, and because of New Town’s loss to Kingborough, managed to rise to third place in the standings.
Half-centuries from Charlie Wakim [57 off 78 balls] and Mac Wright [50 off 76 balls] helped Lindisfarne to 286, but an inability to convert starts to big scores hindered the Lightning.
Sam Omahony took 4/45 off 14.1 overs for Greater Northern.
Then it the Raiders turn to bat, and at 3/53 at stumps on day one, things looked shaky
Enter captain-coach Alistair Taylor and young batsman Cooper Anthes, who both scored centuries to fire Greater Northern past their opponents.
Taylor [152 off 168 balls] scored his second century in three games, while Anthes [103 not out off 152 balls] made his maiden first grade century.
The Raiders chased down their target with six-wickets in hand and will now travel back down to Hobart this weekend to face dual-premiers University across Saturday and Sunday.
Lindisfarne narrowly misses out on finals action, despite an encouraging end to its red ball campaign.
Kingborough’s dominant season has continued with a victory over New Town at the Twin Ovals.
The Knights have finished the season losing just two games, with a monstrous points tally of 89, 33 clear of second place.
It now remains to be seen whether Kingborough can convert its dominant season into silverware, as it gets set to face the Bucks again this weekend.
Young star Zac Curtain [50 off 113 balls] made a gritty half-century as the Knights negotiated their way to 225.
Jayden Vince [51 off 129 balls] provided some hope for New Town, but Cameron Walter’s opening spell was too much to overcome for Peter Di Venuto’s side.
Walter [4/24 off 15 overs] took the first four wickets of the second innings as the Bucks fell 65-runs short of the target.
Sam Rainbird’s stellar run of form has continued, this time with the bat against South Hobart-Sandy Bay.
Rainbird [125 off 76 balls] hit eighteen boundaries on his way his second century of the season, a display of the all-round ability of the former Tasmania Tiger.
He was supported by Riley Whitelaw [59 off 90 balls], as Clarence declared at 9/224.
Tom Willoughby’s 69 off 157 balls was not enough to drag the Sharks across the line, as Roos coach Harry Allanby took 4/18 to secure Clarence’s seventh win of the season.
The Roos extended their lead to 218 in the second innings, despite Jordan Cooper’s 5/61 off 9.2 overs for South Hobart-Sandy Bay.
The Sharks ran out of time for any chance of a reverse outright win, as both sides concluded their seasons at Kangaroo Bay.
University’s game with Glenorchy ended prematurely with a rain-filled Sunday, but it was the Bradley Hope show on Saturday.
Hope made 158 not out off 207 balls, hitting fourteen fours as Uni ended day one at 8-361.
Nick Walden, a recent fast-bowling acquisition for the Lions, showcased his talents with the bat, hitting 58 not out off 88 balls to support Hope.
Uni have finished second, despite a shaky end to the two-day season, and will host Greater Northern at University Oval this weekend.