Our Ladies Hitting Sixes Our club was well represented in the U/14 Hurricanes girls Development Team with three players heading to Melbourne to participate in a variety of game styles against interstate competition. Jessica Owen and Josie Rose (Kingborough Knights) Shelby Leonard (Kingborough Knights & Kettering Cricket Club) and Tayla Brightman (Kettering Cricket Club) were selected from over 40 clubs across the state to participate in the interstate cup. As well as playing their club games each week Jess and Shelby are also part of the Cricket Tasmania Pathway Academy. Tayla and Josie are part of the pathways program through Cricket Tasmania's Hurricane's Youth Academy which involves extra training sessions each week. While in Melbourne the girls participated in two T20 matches and two 40 over matches against the Victorian Bayside Regional team. The girls also got to watch the urricanes V Renegades game at Marvel Stadium and visit their favourite players in the rooms after the game. Congratulations girls. Congratulations to Sarah who not only has been involved with our Club for quite some time as a committee member and volunteer but also scores for our Second grade premier league team and our Womens premier league team. Sarah was appointed to score for the BBL eliminator Final at Blundstone Arena between the Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder. Around the Grounds Midseason Report 2nd Grade Premier League Team Up until this point in the season, 2nd grade have put themselves in a fantastic position yet again to have another tilt at a premiership. Whilst the biggest challenges have yet to come, the 2nd grade guys should be proud of the position they are in and opportunity they have given themselves. 2nd grade captain Jake Vincent has said “We are a strong and impressive all round side who are yet to play our best cricket. We are still not at full strength and it’s really impressive to see some of the younger guys take on larger roles and leading us to wins”. Batting has been of some concern for the Knights 2nd grade side this season with the team not showing their full potential with the bat thus far. Henry Prichard has been the pick of the batsman in the 2’s this season while the rest of the batsman have looked impressive, but yet to show any real consistency. Bowling and fielding for the Knights 2nd grade side has been extremely impressive. Young Cam Walter was showing his talent early and has since spent the most part of the season in first grade. With veteran Shane Holland going to the U.S for a period of time, the others have had to pick up the slack. Josh Henley and Euan Rodgers have been the pick of the bowlers for the majority of the season. Josh showing experience beyond his years leading the attack and Euan bowling his much improved leg spin have both been revelations this year. “Both players are very talented and will have a large part to play in the continued success the club is looking to achieve this season” Jake has said. Overall the 2nd grade side have a lot of improvement yet to make if they want to be grand finalists again this season. However with the talent and comradery this group possesses, there is no reason why they can’t be holding the cup up again at the end of it. Midseason Report 3rd Grade Premier League Team Leading into the club’s two day bye, the threes sit equal top of a very crowded pointy end of the ladder. We’ve seen a massive 34 players already step out on the field for 3rd grade with numerous highly talented underage players, some over-seasoned veterans and the occasional fills-ins making up this number. A crushing win over New Town in the first round opened up our account, which was unfortunately followed by a washed out two day draw when we were just seven runs short of the win. However we got back in the winners column the next round with an impressive first innings win against North Hobart in a rare home game at the Twins. Highlighting this game was a 238 run 4th wicket partnership between Jesse Pinkman and Jack Ross the Boss, with both notching up impressive hundreds in the process. Youngster Jordy Baker should also be acknowledged for a workmanlike performance with the ball on a flat deck. Three more solid wins and an unfortunate loss to Clarence followed with the white ball, before we snuck over the line against University in our last T20 fixture. Ranelagh’s favourite Jud Direen the hero with the bat depositing their strike bowler over the rope in the last over to secure the points. The Threes then hit a slump in form which resulted in a loss to North Hobart followed by a close loss to University. The season was nudged back on track in our last matchup before the bye when we had a commanding win over SHSB, a great team performance with the bat was followed with an equally good showing with the ball. Great to grab back some momentum before our two week break! Along the way so far we’ve introduced some potential future 1st Grade cricketers to senior turf cricket. With many of them already showing they can handle the challenges and no doubt will push for higher selection in the near future. To finish off the season we face tough two day matches against Clarence and Lindisfarne, split by a one dayer versus Brighton. If the effort shown to date continues, no doubt we’ll give ourselves every chance to come away with the points in each game and put ourselves in a strong position leading into finals. Senior Cricket - Premier League Our first grade Men's team has continued their strong performance on the ground with a continued outstanding season from our captain Trent Keep we currently sit in fourth position. The end of the season is going to be a tight battle for finals. Our Women's Premier League Kookaburra Cup team currently sit in first position. The finals for this will be played at twin ovals on Sunday the 23rd of February so please come and support our women's team that day at our home ground. Congratulations To James Scott and Zac Curtain on their selection in the Cricket Tasmania U15 side for the National Championships in February. The boys will travel to Ballarat for a week of competition from the 20th of February to the 27th of February. Goodluck boys and enjoy the experience! Knights Vs Tigers for Bushfire Relief In light of the recent bushfire crisis that Australia has faced over the previous months, the Kingborough Knights cricket club and the Kingborough Tigers football club have joined forces to help raise some money for those affected by the bushfires. Lead by Knights player Jake Vincent and Tigers player Luke Graham, the proposal was for a T20 cricket match. The Tigers would assemble their best eleven cricketers and the Knights would field a side mixed of predominantly second grade players. The game, which was played last Friday at Sherburd oval,turned out to be a huge success. Members of both clubs and the wider Kingborough community got behind the event and a great night was had by all. Money was raised from a BBQ and a raffle where prizes were generously donated by Cellarbrations Kingston and Kingston Town Meats. On a night where the cricket came second, Tigers captain Luke Graham won the toss and elected to bat. Zac Adams opened the batting with Lochie Griggs and got the Tigers off to a great start. Adams looked to push the pace with Griggs anchoring the Tigers in the first six overs. Adams departed for a quickfire 30 which then brought Clifford to the crease. Both players appeared to be cruising along as Griggs seemed to like what he saw from the bowling of Street and sent him down towards Blackmans Bay Beach on a few occasions. The induction of Bryce Turnbull into the attack seemed to work for the Knights as they wrestled momentum back momentarily with the wicket of Clifford. He was out LBW for another decent contribution for the Tigers. Lovell was handy as next in as he contributed 25 before departing. Graham came and went quickly at number 5 which brought Carter to the crease as he helped the anchor Griggs to get to a more than competitive 170. Griggs ended the innings with a well-made 86 not out. Pick of the bowlers for the Knights were Henley and Prichard, but overall a pretty mediocre performance from the “genuine cricketers” as labelled by Street in the build up to the game. For the Knights Riley Backhouse and Alex Vincent started positively before the fall of Backhouse for 18. Vincent fell shortly after with Poland taking a great catch to remove the opener. With the game slightly leaning towards the Tigers after the powerplay, Graham threw the ball to Poland. He bowled his four overs straight at no great pace but seemed to find the right line and length to challenge the Knights batsman. Prichard at first drop looked promising but departed just as he got going for 25. Pride was out shortly after for 6. Matt Coad and Tom Martyn went about chasing down the total themselves but with requiring 100 runs from the final 8 overs, the task looked too challenging. Martyn departed in the 17th over to Clifford which brought captain Jake Vincent to the crease who hit a quickfire 26, but it simply wasn’t enough.