Sharks keen to make up for lost time

AN early-season top-of-the-table clash will begin at Queenborough today when South Hobart-Sandy Bay hosts Lindisfarne in Round 6 of the CTPL.

The Sharks (second) have been forced to wait an extra three weeks to finally get on their home deck and will be itching to make the most of the advantage in a contest where several state players will be chasing runs.

Tigers skipper George Bailey and Alex Doolan will line up for the home side, while Ben McDermott will feature for the Lightning.

South coach Matt Clark admits there was a missed opportunity when the side was unable to push for outright points last week — the second day’s play against Uni was called off because of a wet centre square — and is confident the extra wait to get on Queenborough will be worth it.

“I’m pretty confident the groundsman will get us something up pretty good to play on, with the weather the last week or so, it has been fairly stable so I’m pretty confident what we get on Saturday will be good,” Clark said. “It was a little bit frustrating last week, having done all the hard work on day one and to be forced to sit back and wait and eventually having it called off was a bit frustrating.

“Thankfully for our sake we got some points on the first Saturday.”

The Sharks will come up against arguably the most in-form bowler in the competition in Lightning quick Nathan Ellis, who has taken 13 wickets in the first five games at 9.9.

The other two teams in the top four square off at the Twin Ovals, with Kingborough (fourth) just behind Glenorchy on percentage. The Knights have Beau Webster, while Glenorchy is coming off the biggest total of the season, 357, where James Whiteley and Matt Dilger both cracked centuries.

North Hobart heads to New Town with Jordan Silk and Jake Doran looking to cash in on what proved a beautiful batting wicket last week, while University’s match with Clarence has been moved to Kangaroo Bay.