New Town is confident losses in its last two games has not robbed it of momentum as it heads into a home T20 grand final against Clarence.
The Bucks finished atop the T20 ladder on net run rate despite the dual defeats during the final day of roster play, including a last over loss to their grand final opponents.
New Town was defeated by North Hobart in the early game on Saturday in a Duckworth Lewis result, before going down to the Roos in the last roster game when Clarence chased down the Bucks 139 with three balls to spare.
Bucks coach Peter Di Venuto said the twin defeats should not overshadow the earlier good work that saw New Town win four games on the trot to secure top spot on the T20 ladder.
“Weve been pretty poor in the format for the past four years,” Di Venuto said.
“The last couple of years we’ve been mid-table, but we started this campaign really well.
“We had losses obviously in the last two games but they were pretty close and sometimes that’s the way it goes in this format.
“I think the players realised the things they did yesterday and I’m sure they’ll learn from that and take the opportunity come Wednesday.”
The Bucks have certainly relied on team rather than star power, with just one batter in the top 15 T20 run-scorers this season and even he – captain Mitch Owen – is absent due to Hurricanes duties.
It is similar with the ball, with just one bowler in the top 10 wicket-takers.
“We’ve had contributions all the way through,” Di Venuto said.
“We’ve had different sides most games through injury and unavailability.
“It is the same thing on Wednesday, we’ll still have [pace bowler] John Montgomery not playing unfortunately. We probably won’t have him until February.”
The standout with the ball has been recruit Caelan Maladay who has been brilliant all season after coming down from New South Wales.
For the season across all formats, he’s taken 20 wickets at 19, including eight at 13.3 in the T20 competition.
“He’s terrific, he’s got great attitude, excellent work ethic,” Di Venuto said.
“He plays handy roles with the bat, runs well between the wickets, is excellent in the field, he’s been outstanding.
But Di Venuto has been around long enough to know the Roos will be no pushover, especially given the red-hot form of pace bowling all-rounder Sam Rainbird.
Not only has the left-arm quick taken more T20 wickets than anyone this season (16 at 10 runs each), but he’s also become deadly with the bat, averaging 33 and landing some lusty blows in the Roos’ middle order.
“He’s just a good clean striker, if it’s in his zone he knows when to go,” Di Venuto said.
“His batting has improved over the journey and now he’s a very dangerous player.
“I think we are two pretty evenly matched teams with a lot of local players in each set up.
“It is a combination of both local and non-local and I think that is a good thing for the competition.”
Wednesday’s final will be held at New Town Oval and starting at 5.15pm.
It was an incredibly tight finish to the T20 season, with four teams finishing on four wins from six games, but both Glenorchy (third) and Kingborough (fourth) were pipped for a spot in the decider on net run-rate despite some impressive performances.
A first century for North Hobart opener Melodie Armstrong has propelled the Demons to a huge win over Clarence in the women’s CTPL one-day competition.
The Roos posted 9-193, with captain Lauren Smith contributing 78.
The Demons had no issues in the chase, as Melodie Armstrong (105 from 98 balls) guided the Demons to a seven-wicket win with 17.3 overs remaining.
It was a run-fest at UTas Stadium with the Greater Northern Raiders chasing down New Town’s 5-258 fairly comfortably in the end.
It was a team effort with the bat from the Raiders, with Emma Manix-Geeves (54 from 71), Meg Radford (49 from 75) and Hayley Silver-Holmes (62 not out from 53) all chipping in to allow the home side to reach the target with five wickets and 33 balls to spare.