Dominant Glenorchy looking to cash in

GLENORCHY coach Michael Knight hopes a simple message he has been trying to instil within his group is starting to bear fruit as the Pies look to cash in on a dominant opening day of CTPL action.

New Town will resume this morning at 1-24 at home, needing a further 334 runs to overhaul the Magpies’ 7-357 dec.

It was a total built on a near club record third-wicket partnership between James Whiteley (118 not out) and Matt Dilger (150), who took the score from 2-28 to 2-255 before Dilger’s incredible 134-ball knock came to an end.

The stand was just shy of Glenorchy’s highest for the third wicket (245), and the day was completed for the visitors when Tim Spotswood bowled danger man Jack Hancock for a duck late in the day.

“It was an amazing effort from two of our guys we have had around our group for two or three years,” Knight said of the Whiteley-Dilger partnership. “For us, we are trying to take ownership. The guys who are left after Eddie [Cowan] has been, [Ben] Dunk, ‘Buttsy’ [Luke Butterworth] is gone, the core group of batters have been around those guys for the last three or four years.

“It is their team now and their responsibility to put the big runs on the board.”

The likely inclusion of state all-rounder Tom Rogers will bolster Glenorchy’s hopes of picking up the remaining nine wickets, but Knight knows the first hour of action is crucial.

“It will be exactly the same as last week, we were 2-20 early and then it turned into a nice batting wicket. We need to make use of the first hour and if we can get two or three wickets in that period, it sets us up for the rest of the day as long as we have time without any weather interruptions.”

In the remaining matches South Hobart-Sandy Bay will be pushing for outright points when it resumes on 7-190, and a 131-run lead, against University; Clarence (7-91) has its work cut out to keep Lindisfarne’s (206) lead to a minimum; and Kingborough is 2-8 chasing North Hobart’s 265.