Greater Northern Raiders coach Tim Coyle was delighted how well his young side overcame both opposition and conditions to claim another Cricket Tasmania Premier League win.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A disciplined bowling performance combined with the timely intervention of rain saw the Raiders win by 20 runs on first innings at the NTCA Ground on Sunday.
"It's a great win," Coyle said.
"At the start of the season we set ourselves to improve our two-day cricket. We've been very competitive in one-day and T20 but two-day has been glaringly not up to scratch and we wanted to improve that.
"We've come out against a quality opposition, in trying conditions, and we've won. There's lots to learn from that, particularly when we got the worst of the conditions but found a way to hang in."
Having recovered from 4-40 to reach 185 in 57.3 overs on Saturday, Raiders fought back in the field, Jono Chapman taking three late wickets to have the visitors resuming at 6-118 on Sunday morning.
In an enticing battle for first innings points, the wicket of Tom Andrews was always going to be pivotal and Chapman claimed it, ending his stint three runs short of a half-century to finish with figures of 4-49.
With 20 runs or two wickets still required, the result was still on a knife edge until Evan Gulbis completed the job, and his own figures of 3-57, finishing with the caught and bowled of Umair Butt for 25 and the Sharks all out for 165.
The Raiders survived a tricky 10 overs before lunch and rain arrived almost simultaneously, skipper Oliver Wood facing the majority of deliveries and seeing his team to 1-24.
Sharks captain Sean Willis said it would have been difficult for his side to win from that point.
"You need a pretty positive vibe to go and take 10 wickets quickly and after losing first-innings points it's hard to do that," he said.
"So it's not really been the funnest of days."
We've come out against a quality opposition, in trying conditions, and we've won. There's lots to learn from that.
- Tim Coyle
Over the next two Saturdays, Raiders face another home two-day game, this time against early pace-setters Kingborough at UTAS Stadium.
"This sets us up nicely for a good game against Kingborough at UTAS and we're looking forward to that," Coyle said.
"Having two games in a row at home is unusual and if we capitalise on that we can stay up the top.
"It's great to be up there. It's a bit of a false economy with all the washouts there've been but we're playing good, solid cricket and going into games with the expectation that we're going to win which is a mindset shift for us."
Kingborough were dismissed for just 61 by a rampant Glenorchy, who then rattled up 5-230, while the matches at University and Lindisfarne Ovals were both abandoned.
The CTPL will soon revert to T20 format with the Raiders facing Clarence on December 4.
Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
