The Greater Northern Raiders may have come up short against Sandy Bay, but there were plenty of stand-out performances to provide the team with some optimism.
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Most impressive of all was opener Sam O'Mahony, who served a suckerpunch to Sandy Bay to start the Raiders' innings.
The Devonport batsman scored his first century for the Raiders, which included an amazing seven fours and seven sixes.
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James Simpson also showed his quality on the day; a partnership with O'Mahony saw the Riverside product hit a half century.
Captain Oliver Wood said it was pleasing to see younger players rise up after the departure of seasoned players including Tim David and Evan Gulbis.
"Today was the first game we had without a Gulbis, [Brayden] Stepien or David - the fact that Sammy [O'Mahony] put his hand up and stood up was brilliant," Wood said.
"I'm really proud of how he went about it, he backed himself and took it on."
"Young Simpson as well, his effort can't be understated. It almost felt like a 26-year-old was out there batting and not an 18-year-old.
"He's going to be one to look out for in the future."
I'm really proud about how he went about it, he backed himself and took it on.
- Oliver Wood on Sam O'Mahony's century.
The partnership proved invaluable to the Raiders, as the side quickly lost the last six wickets within three overs.
This was thanks to former George Town quick Gabe Bell (4-33) and South Australian spinner Tom Andrews (5-46), who quickly turned up the heat to maintain a chaseable 229 runs.
Despite a thrilling performance from O'Mahony and Simpson, the Sharks hunted down the total thanks to a few star performances of their own.
Sandy Bay's Tom Willoughby had himself a day but Miles Barnard caught him out just shy of a century with 96 runs.
Fellow Shark Caleb Oakes (63) also took a large chomp into the Raiders' total.
"We're giving ourselves opportunities to win games of cricket which I think is really positive for the group... now it's about making the most of those opportunities," Wood said.