Demons intent on going one better

AFTER being runner-up in last year’s playoff, North Hobart captain Alex Pyecroft hopes the Demons can break through for a CTPL grand final victory against Clarence at Blundstone Arena starting on Friday.

North Hobart and Clarence made it through to the grand final without a ball being bowled on the second day of their semi-finals yesterday.

Heavy rained washed out the entire day’s play.

“The covers blew off overnight and the pitch got soaked,” Pyecroft said. “We rocked up to the ground and no play was foreseeable so the game got called off.”

That ended South Hobart-Sandy Bay’s shot at the title, with the Sharks unable to attempt chasing North Hobart’s 2-247 from Saturday.

“With us finishing second, we need to win or draw the game to go through to the grand final so the draw was good enough for us,” Pyecroft said. “We had set up the game pretty well on Saturday so it didn’t make too much of a difference to us.”

Minor premier Clarence went straight into the grand final when its game against two-time defending champion Lindisfarne was declared a draw. The Blues were in trouble, having posted a mediocre 160 on Saturday and Clarence poised on 2-115 at stumps at the end of day one.

“We’ve got good youth and some good cricketers coming through in Caleb Jewell, Jack White, Corey Murfet and some other guys involved in the state programs,” Pyecroft said.

“We match up pretty well against Clarence.

“We’ve had some good games and know we can knock them off if we put our best performance on the park.”