Greater Northern Raiders coach Andrew Gower stood behind the rope on Saturday cursing through gritted teeth.
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It was one of those days as South Hobart-Sandy Bay seemed to just get away from the Raiders time after time in the clash at Invermay Park.
But it was a far cry from their one-day meeting when the reigning premiers blew the rookies off the park in a convincing nine-wicket win with 29 overs to spare.
This time the hosts reached 176 all out. The Sharks were 1-63 in reply at stumps.
“We were probably 50 short of where we would like to have been,” Gower said.
“We thought 220-250 was a par score here, but we lost the toss and was put into bat.
“They’ve got some really good bowlers with Gabe Bell and Hamish Kingston up front. But I still thought the boys did a really good job.”
Raiders conceded just the three wickets to Tasmania’s leading swing bowlers.
But then Sharks teammate Kyle Wisniewski removed the dangerous pair, Jake Williams (29) and Ollie Wood (21), just as the batters were building.
He came back to clean up the tail to claim 4-31.
“The top six handled that challenge really quite well. They were really positive the way they went about it. They build some nice partnerships too,” Gower said.
“It was unfortunate that we lost wickets at crucial times.”
Gower was left impressed by the side’s latest debutants.
Three new additions has taken this summer’s tally to a staggering 38 fresh Raiders.
“I felt Rhys French was fantastic to get [top-score] 40 as a 19-year-old,” he said.
“There were many good innings like Cooper [Anthes], who showed his maturity.
“He may have scored 10, but the way he went about it with Rhys to put on their partnership was really good.
“I thought Lyndon Stubbs [24 not out] was fantastic at the back end of the innings to get us to a reasonable total.”
Tom Gray picked up opener Trent Keep for six, but partner Harry Nichols took on the bowlers for 39 not out, as his side added 48 more.
“Traditionally Mowbray, first session, has always got a bit in it,” Gower said.
“We’re hoping that the ball remains pretty new – it’s only 22 overs old. We’ll come out full of gusto next Saturday.”
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