Mowbray captain-coach John LeFevre says his side is still aiming to make finals following a comeback win over Riverside last round.
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The bottom-placed Eagles stumbled to 6-65 before making 220 to secure first innings points against the Blues and reduce the gap between fifth and fourth back to two points.
South Launceston presents an imposing challenge for LeFevre’s side, which will see Australian under-19 all-rounder Jarrod Freeman fill in for James Storay during the opening week.
Second grade century-maker Spencer Hayes appears the most likely to replace Ben Spinks, who will miss the remainder of the season with school cricket.
“The ladder’s a bit interesting at the moment, it’s obviously Riverside and us that are out of the three but the rest are really close, so we feel if we’re winning games we’re still a chance of playing finals,” LeFevre said.
“We weren’t that happy with the way we played [last round], we feel we’re a better cricket team than that and that our batsmen really need to stand up and take a little bit more of the load in scoring runs.
“We were able to make 220 on the weekend but we feel if one or two of our recognised batsmen had got away there’s no reason we shouldn’t be scoring 250-plus regularly.”
The Knights haven’t played since their Greater Northern Cup semi-final and will also field a different XI across the two weeks.
Captain Tom Waller confirmed he and Nathan Carter would miss the first weekend with Greater Northern Raiders duties, with Charlie Tindall and Patrick Munnings filling the void.
“We’re still going to place a lot of emphasis on our partnerships and batting a fair bit of time,” Waller said of the transition into two-day cricket.
“They’ve got a mix of a couple of experienced heads like Rohan [Pooley] and John LeFevre, and then some really young guys that are up and coming and coming through so it’s a good mix - a little bit like us.”
ROUND 12 RECAP: Lions back from dead, Storay stuns Blues
LAUNCESTON could jump to top of the table should it continue its giant-killing form at Riverside.
The Lions have knocked off title favourites Westbury and South Launceston in thrilling fashion in their past two matches and will benefit from the inclusion of captain-coach Alistair Taylor and Tom Gray in the second week.
Leg-spinner Clayde White will return to A-grade following some good form in the twos and the unavailability of James Curran and Sam Elliston-Buckley (school cricket), while Tom Bennett poses a headache for the Blues having collected a five-wicket haul against Westbury and scored 96 in a statewide T20 match last weekend.
“It was probably one of the better weekends he’ll have playing cricket I think so I’m rapt for him,” Taylor said.
“He got on a roll when the boys looked dead and buried, so to get a win from there was remarkable. It was a really good effort and Tommy led that beautifully.”
Tom Garwood’s Riverside will hand an A-grade debut to ex-Burnie quick Tom Lewis as it looks to snap a four-game losing streak and cover the loss of form paceman Jesse Homan.
“We’ve worked on a couple of things from our game last week and with the young side we’ve got it’s all about a learning curve,” Garwood said.
“We want to start creating a winning two-day culture.
“Obviously with the young side we’ve got, just being consistent with the bat and ball throughout the whole two days is what we’re after.
We can’t lose concentration for an hour because that’s where the game can be won and lost.”
ROUND 13
Saturday, 10.30am start
- Riverside v Launceston (Riverside No.1)
- Mowbray v South Launceston (Invermay Park)
- Westbury - BYE