Surprise Lions hope to pounce on Roos

THE Lions will be looking to hunt down the reigning champion today when University take on Clarence for the Kookaburra Cup at Kangaroo Bay Oval.

Last year the Roos were able to defeat Kingborough to take out the one-day competition and this year they will be hoping to cap off an undefeated campaign.

Standing in their way is the surprise packet of the compet- ition, University, which scraped into the final by beating Cricket Tasmania Under-19s in the last match of the competition.

Last year University sat on the bottom of the Kookaburra Cup ladder after not winning a one-day game but this season it has turned that around.

“Our team has come a long way this year from where we finished last year,” University captain Nick Grubb said.

“The club has been put together really well. We’ve got some good coaches in, like Ben Harrison and Ben Hilfenhaus.”

University could welcome back big names James Faulkner and Hilfenhaus for the clash, but it is former Tasmanian Tiger Rhett Lockyear who has been the in-form player for the Lions.

“Rhett is amazing, he is a clean striker of the ball and in my opinion he could still be playing BBL,” Grubb said.

Clarence captain Harry Allanby will be hoping to repeat his efforts from last year final when he scored a matchwinning century.

Allanby put his team’s white-ball form down to sticking to the plan that has made it successful in the past.

“We have the same motto we have had the last couple of years,” Allanby said.

“Back ourselves and back our ability and it seems to be going well lately.

“We have some really good white-ball players who like to attack and play freely.”

Play starts at 10.30am.