With COVID-19 putting a gaping hole in the state's junior academy program, two Launceston coaches saw an opening and ran with it.
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After the long-running under-13 Hurricanes youth program was disbanded as a part of Cricket Tasmania's financial adjustments, Dean Hawkins and Craig Elliott began contacting clubs - seeking the North's best for a Cricket North academy.
"We got a relationship with the North-West who are running a very similar program through Jason Pearce and a couple of other guys down there," Hawkins said.
"We are playing two trial games where all the boys play against each other and then we will pick an NTCA rep team from that.
"The NTCA rep situation hasn't happened for years, right back to the Ted Richardson Shield and Jamie Cox Plate - that sort of thing.
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"So we play the North-West on January 19 and 20 on turf, which is great for the kids, after these two trial matches."
The academy's trial games - played on Tuesday and Wednesday - saw the squad's two sides take part in 40-over contests, with a retiring point of 50 balls for those skilled enough to make it while 10-over intervals allowed Hawkins and Elliott to analyse play with the players.
It seemed like both matches were going to be taken out by the NTCA Blue team but White came back strong on Wednesday for a six-run win.
White batted first with Ryan Double (40) and Euan Farquhar (30) retiring as Smith (34 off 40 balls) added to the total late in the innings, ending their 40 overs on 7-171.
Spinner Jack Crane starred with 4-9 and his top order followed his lead with Jonas Best (36) and Cooper Kedey (32 not out) starting strong before dangerous spells from Oliver Green (3-6) and William French (2-15) swung the game and Blue were all out for 165.
Match one saw Ethan Arnott raise the bat for a half century as Noah Clayton (28) and Crane (27) got through their 50 balls, guiding their side to 7-196 and avoiding the wrath of Oliver Wright, who took 4-16.
In chase, White's Kobe Arrowsmith (39), Jensen Smith (20) and Archie Johnston (17) were the only batters to make double figures while Best (3-6) and Abhinav Sundaram (3-14) bowled well to restrict them to 132.
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
