Tearaway James Beattie took the four-wicket haul in his stride, but undoubtedly enjoyed the homecoming on Saturday more than most Greater Northern Raiders.
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“It’s been a long time coming,” Beattie said after snaring 4-18 against New Town.
“As a team we played really well too, so it’s just good to get the monkey off the back early in the season.”
Not only was it the Cricket Tasmania Premier League side’s first game on home turf – at the NTCA No.2 Ground – but the return to Beattie’s ritualistic South Launceston stomping ground.
The parallels on the historic day extends to the 20-year-old returning to play for the Raiders after a brief stint at North Hobart last summer.
The experience worked in the tall left-armer’s favour when he exploited the wicket perfectly that the Bucks struggled to come to terms with inside the first hour.
“It’s good to come back up from Hobart,” Beattie said.
“I think that wicket really played into our hands.
“It had been spoken this week that the conditions suits us. We sort of knew how to start the game a bit better and it took them maybe a bit longer to adapt.”
Beattie said getting a taste of the Kookaburra Cup one year earlier than most of his teammates worked wonders.
“It was a huge development not only for myself, but all the boys that were involved in that,” he said.
“Just to have a bit of academy training down there helped greatly in preparing for the start of the season.”