Time to deliver and see it through

GREATER Northern Raiders coach Tim Coyle says the mammoth total his winless team accumulated on the back of a record-breaking partnership last week “won’t mean anything” unless they complete the job on Saturday.

Carlton duo Brayden Stepien and Evan Gulbis combined for the highest third-wicket partnership (386 runs) inCTPL history last week as the Raiders compiled 4-504 declared against South Hobart-Sandy Bay on day one of the two-fixture. The Sharks will resume at 1-41 on day two of the round five clash at the NT CA on Saturday.

Coy le said it was a“fantastic batting performance” by StepienandGulbis.

“To goat seven an over for a sustained period of time — albeit with a little bit of luck, there were a few dropped catches along the way—but a massive partnership, and it’s batting that I probably haven’t seen at grade level in my time ,” he said. “It was great to watch, and it was good for our young players to kick back and watch that unfold and hopefully learn a little bit about how you can go about batting at that level .”

Coyle said his bowlers needed to backup the dominant day one performance.

“It won’t mean anything if we don’t get nine wickets, so that’s really important, I think to get our first win on the board in a pretty tough season so far would be very important for the playing group ,” he said.

“There’s nothing like a win to give you some confidence movingforward.”

Coyle said the first hour of play would be crucial, and allrounder Gulbis could also contribute with the ball.

In other round five fixtures on Saturday, Clarence will resume at 1-34 in response to North Hobart’ s 318 at the T CA, the match between University and Glenorchy will continue after University reached 6-417 last week, and Lindisfarne will begin its innings after bowling King borough out for 295.