Greater Northern Raiders Newsletter - October Edition

Female Pathway

• Five Raiders pathway players trained with Alistair Taylor in Launceston during the winter months as part of the GNR program
• Lexi Moir performed solidly in the U16 intrastate games, looking very comfortable with bat and ball in her own age group. She also debuted as a 14 year old in the GNR First Grade squad last weekend.
• Four Raiders Rookies girls travelled to Hobart for U16 intrastate games; one from Launceston, two from St Helen's and one from Devonport, with one other player from the Northwest Coast registering interest. Unfortunately, games planned for the North had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers.
• Payton Fulton, Payton Stewart, Charlotte Clayton and Chloe Casey are all in the mix for U19 selection, albeit as bottom age players. All girls will be striving for some good performances in the next month of cricket before the squad is confirmed. 

Male Pathway

• We saw six teams across the North and North West perform in our recent Intrastate Cup. 
• There were some exceptional performances:-
  • Alex French (Launceston) 73 vs South u15
  • Nate Stewart (Wynyard) 81* vs South u13
  • George Radcliffe (Burnie) 107 vs North u15
  • Oliver Green (Riverside) & Abhinav Sundaram (South Launceston) - 3 wickets each vs South CTDP
  • Thomas Harris (South Launceston) 52 vs South u15
  • Aahil Waqas (Launceston) 68 vs NW u13

Cricket Northwest

• CNW 75^thAnniversary & Season 2025-26 Launch Event
• Held on 12 October 2025 at the Devonport Country Club
• 150 attendees
• Interviews of Club representatives on prospects for 2025-26 season
• Teams of the Decades announced and interviews with some members of the Teams:
• - 7 Men's Teams ('50s; '60s; '70s; '80s; '90s; '00s; '10s)
• - 1 Women's Team ('10s)
• - Notables Squad - including International, State and Hall of Fame members not making Teams of the Decades
• Photo of Teams of the Decades attached.
• Attendees from all Teams, excluding 1950s.
• Attendance from 14 Hall of Fame members, including all-time Run scorer (Dale Baker) and all-time wicket taker (Craig Boutcher).
• Former 1st Class State players attending, including: Harold Allen, Baden Sharman, Les Allen, Bruce Hodgetts, Trevor Docking, Danny Buckingham, Rowan Sherriff, Chris Dell, Colin Arnold, David Mullett. Including two from the first Tasmanian Sheffield Shield Team (Trevor Docking & Rowan Sherriff).
• More information on the CNW Website/News http://www.cricketnorthwest.com.au
• CNW Season
• Commenced on 18 October 2025, with games staggered due to ground availability.
• 2025/26 Rules Handbooks and related matters on CNW Website/Resources http://www.cricketnorthwest.com.au

Cricket North

• Grade cricket got off to a start with one 1^st grade match between Mowbray and Launceston at Invermay Park, with Mowbray winning the match under DLS. The other match between Riverside and Westbury was abandoned due to the Council being unable to prepare the wicket. Other grades to commence this coming weekend (18 & 19 October)
• We are super proud of Aiden “Bert” O’Connor for his selection to the Sydney Thunder on a 2 year contract for the upcoming BBL seasons.
• Early next year the NTCA will celebrate the 175^th anniversary of the first 1^st class match of cricket played in Australia. In February 1851 a game between a Tasmanian team and a Victorian team was played at the NTCA grounds. A board sub-committee is developing a programme for the occasion which will likely include a couple of mid-week matches between Tasmanian and Victorian veteran cricketers and a celebration dinner. Details to be worked out and will be shared when available. 

Male Raiders CTPL

• The GNR male program has started the 2025/6 season well by winning 3 from 3 games in the one day format.
• Our season got under way with a strong win against SHSB in round 1
  • Tom Dwyer was the standout with a Maiden CTPL 100*. Cooper Anthes played a pivotal part in anchoring the innings and getting Tom to 100. Cooper finished 74*.
• The weather played a big part in round 2 against North Hobart, however we were on the right side of Duck Worth Lewis.
  • NH sent us in and Aidan O’Connor dominated a 43 over game scoring 89 and Cooper chipping in with 38. Before Debutant Ben Hann took his first wickets in Orange to round out a 50 run win.
• Kingborough sent us in to bat first again in Rd 4.
  • Coopers form continued by scoring a magnificent 100, with his second 50 coming off 26 balls. We kept the Knights under pressure with early wickets and managed to stay in front of Duck Worth Lewis to get over the line with a 3^rd successive win.
• A big congratulations to Aidan O’Connor on being picked up by the Sydney Thunder for the next two BBL seasons.
• The squad was also really pleased with the selection of Tom Dwyer, Lachie Clark and Cooper Anthes to the Tasmanian 2^nd XI team to face Victoria in Melbourne. Cooper being rewarded for some excellent early season form is very pleasing. Tom batted beautifully for an impressive 96 in the first innings of that game
• In game 4 of the season we took on Glenorchy on the 26^th October in our first trip down south.
  • Impressive opening spells from Billy Stanlake (4-25) & Aidan O’Connor had Glenorchy on the ropes at 6-47. However, their tail wagged to reach 7-230.
  • The Raiders were well ahead of DLS when rain ended play.
• Next up Uni at on Saturday 1 November.

Female Raiders CTPL

• The GNR Female program kicked off the season with 2 x T20 fixtures against Clarence at the NTCA 2 ground
• The team posted an impressive 2-195 in game one thanks largely to an undefeated 133 partnership between Emma Manix-Geeves (79* off 53 balls) & debutant Courtney Sippel (66* off 45 balls). Ruth Johnston also weighed in with a quickfire 34 off 22 balls. Due a heavy downpour the game was reduced to a 5 over shootout with DLS giving Clarence a target of 64 to win. The GNR team defended that comfortably by restricting Clarence to 49 in the allotted 5 overs to record a solid win.
• Game 2 saw Clarence bat first and post 7-135. Charlotte Clayton 3-14 and Payton Stewart 2-12 were amongst the wickets for GNR with the ball. On a tricky wicket the GNR batters struggled with the required run rate and fell 10 runs short in their chase despite good starts from Emma Manix-Geeves (26 off 25), Ava Curtis (35 off 37) and Courtney Sippel (40 of 32).
• The team next faced newly promoted Kingborough Knights in a double header at the NTCA grounds on Sun 19 October
  • In game 1, the Raiders batted first having lost the toss where an impressive run a ball 50* from Montana Bradley saw the girls reach 7-106 in the allotted 20 overs.
  • In reply, Kingborough could only manage 6-64 with Alice McLaughlan and Payton Stewart taking 2 wickets a piece sealing a comfortable win for the Raiders.
  • Game 2 was a different story in another rain affected shorten game. Batting first the GNR side only managed 5-61 off the 13 overs, once again Montana Bradely top scored with 21*.
  • Kingborough managed knock off the runs comfortably for the win
• On their first trip to Hobart for the season the Raiders girls faced North Hobart in the early game and New Town in the afternoon of Sun 26 October.
  • Unfortunately, we went down in both games
  • Montana Bradley scored another impressive 63* off 55 balls against New Town
• Next up is North Hobart at UTAS on Sunday 2 November.
• To date debuts have been handed to Courtney Sippel, Ashley Scott and 14 year old Lexi Moir.