Elliot Stevenson
North Hobart is on the precipice of its second victory of the season, needing ten wickets on Saturday to overcome South Hobart-Sandy Bay at Queenborough.
The Demons, who sit eighth on the CTPL ladder, were led strongly by Englishman Keshana Fonseka (191 off 241 balls) last Saturday, declaring at 8-358 with nine overs to spare in the day.
Coach Richard Cowlard praised Fonseka’s persistence with the bat, despite some good fortune along the way.
“He got lucky in a couple of situations, but to bat basically the entire day, it's something we've seen he's capable of doing,” he said.
“It was really good to see him be able to crack on and get that big score that we've been asking for throughout our game so far.”
Spinning all-rounder Sanjay Anandarajah also scored heavily for North Hobart last weekend, hitting 80 off 119 balls.
Cowlard is hoping the knock, Anandarajah’s first half-century since January, kickstarts his season as the Demons head into a crucial stage.
“He had an awesome pre-season and he's a true fighter,” he said. “He’s always looking for ways to improve.”
“He's hitting a lot of balls during the week.
“It was really nice to see him finally get the rewards for his hard work.
“It would have been nice to see him crack on and finish the day on a hundred because he batted really, really well.
“As we go into the T20 block, hopefully he can find that form that he found at the back end of last season.”
Cowlard says his side are constantly searching for improvement but remains staunch about the fundamental areas of the game.
“It's about getting the basics right,” he said. “We've been talking about that the whole season.”
“We've just got to keep trying to get the basics right and then everything else will look after itself.
“There's not too much that we can say other than make sure that we get the basics right and keep trying as hard as what we are at the moment.”
The Demons narrowly avoided an outright loss to New Town in their opening two-day match of the season but are in the box seat to take home the points this weekend against the Sharks.
“We need to get 10 wickets,” Cowlard said. “They've been really strong with their batting, so we're going to have to work really hard to get ten wickets to win the game, to win first innings.”
“Our main thing is taking it session by session in order to get the ten wickets.”
The Sharks will resume at the crease with the unbeaten opening pair of Cooper Stubbs (14 not out off 20 balls) and Caedence Kuepper (1 not out off 41 balls) with plenty to play for.
Kingborough’s bowling attack will be out to prove a point as they seek nine wickets for a victory at home over Clarence in order to put Sunday’s Kookaburra Cup final loss to Greater Northern.
The Knights posted 212 last Saturday led by Alex Vincent’s 46 off 111 balls, before Cameron Walter struck late in the day to dismiss Roos’ opener Riley Whitelaw.
Clarence trails by 174 with skipper Justin Galeotti unbeaten on 16 and young all-rounder Blake Garrett at the other end.
Having won their opening two-day match of the season against University, the Roos will be aiming to make it two from two at the Twin Ovals.
New Town requires 22 runs to win with three wickets in hand at home to reigning two-day premiers University, with Josh Hartill (51 not out off 112 balls) poised to lead the Bucks toward victory.
Uni captain Ruwantha Kellapotha (4/53 off 21 overs) will be key for the Lions in any potential salvation of a result at New Town Oval.
Hartill is set to resume at the crease alongside number nine batsman Hayden Cross (8 not out off 12 balls) with the winning total in sight.
There remains the potential of the match ending with an outright win for either side with so much time left in the game, but it will no doubt be enthralling regardless.
Recently crowned Kookaburra Cup premiers, the Greater Northern Raiders, host Glenorchy in their first two-day match of the 2025-26 season this weekend.
The Raiders capped off an undefeated start to the season with their first Kookaburra Cup in their history on Sunday with a 76-run victory over Kingborough and will now turn their attention to the red-ball format.
The match is scheduled for both Saturday and Sunday at UTAS Stadium as the Raiders begin their quest for a dual-premiership season.
In the women’s competition, the Kookaburra Cup begins with a matchup between Kingborough and T20 grand finalists Clarence.
The Knights have not played since the 2nd of November due to weather and will be raring to go as they travel to Kangaroo Bay.
The club’s return to women’s first grade cricket has started strongly, with the Knights being competitive in most of their T20 games, winning three.
Clarence, meanwhile, is still shaking off a disappointing loss to North Hobart in last Sunday’s T20 Grand Final.
The Roos fell by 37 runs at Ninja Stadium and will now attack the Kookaburra Cup season with the lofty goal of going one better in the longer format.