CTPL season preview: Ins, outs and key players for every club

The action all kicks off this weekend with games set to be played across Saturday and Sunday.

Here’s a look at how each team is shaping up.

CLARENCE

Last year: Fifth

Coach: Harry Allanby

Captain: Michael Jones

Major ins: Kieran Elliott (Melbourne Cricket Club), Connor O’Brien (Kingborough), Tom Murrell (Lindisfarne)

Major outs: Zac Elliott (Fitzroy), Clint Hinchliffe (Western Australia), Justin Galeotti (Greenvale), Joel Size (South Australia)

Coach says: “Whilst we lost some top cricketers over the off season we are confident the youthful playing group will grab the opportunities that arise and shape the way forward for this club.”

Player to watch: Kieran Elliott – Elliot joins the Roos on the back of a terrific season with the Melbourne Cricket Club where he took over 40 wickets and was a key player in their premiership side. He has come to pursue higher cricketing opportunities and will be a strong leader around Clarence.

GLENORCHY

Last year: Ninth

Coach: Josh Hartill

Captain: Josh Hartill

Major ins: Braden Taeuber (Dandenong) Alex Wynwood ((Ulverstone) James Bowen (Ringwood)

Major outs: Nil

Coach says: “With the continued development of our younger players, excellent player retention and some selective recruiting, I feel we will challenge for a spot in the finals in all formats. Our fast bowling unit will be a strength and recruiting Alex to open the batting added depth to our top order.”

Player to watch: Nick Davis – showed great leadership, maturity and skill with the bat last season in all formats. Fully fit and bowling this season, Glenorchy feels he is set for a breakout season and will push for selection at the next level.

GREATER NORTHERN RAIDERS

Last year: Eighth

Coach: Alistair Taylor

Captains: Charlie Eastoe (red ball) and Alistair Taylor (white ball)

Major ins: Daniel Murfet (Westbury)

Major outs: John Hayes (Mowbray), James Beattie (year off)

Coach says: “We’ve got a new look team this season. Clinton Reid as the batting coach has been fantastic with the group and we’ve brought in some of the young up and coming players in the north of the state. We’ve had a focus on playing your game and being confident to execute with bat and ball, while still looking for consistency within the group. We are looking to the senior players to help lead and guide the younger players we are blooding; we strive to be leaders in performance and wellbeing, and we think we have the team to achieve that.”

Player to watch: Aidan O’Connor and Sam Omahony – both lads have been bowling the house down and hitting the ball extremely hard. Coach Alistair Taylor expects both to play a big part in all formats of the game.

KINGBOROUGH

Last year: Seventh

Coach: Thomas Martyn

Captain: Dylan Hay

Major ins: Jake Weatherald (SA), Trent Rollins (Kingston Crows), Riley Backhouse (injury)

Major outs: Anthony Adlam (SA), Nikethan Rahdakrishnan (University of Tasmania), Connor O’Brien (Clarence), Jackson Bird (NSW)

Coach says: “We’ve had a complete coaching restructure with the key additions of club great Eric Monaghan, and ex New Town and Zimbabwean International Tawanda Mupariwa as senior assistant coaches, to assist me in my first year in the head role. We have had a terrific pre-season based on us as a group identifying and lifting the standards we hold ourselves to. As a coaching group we have established unwavering effort-based values as key drivers for our improvement along with focusing on a positive growth mindset and process driven approach to our games and training. This has us looking to earn the respect of the competition and ultimately be a really hard team to come up against throughout the season. We have a talented group in their late teens and early 20s who along with our experienced players are ready to play their role in season 2023-24”.

Player to watch: Zac Curtain – has had a full pre-season as a part of the Emerging Tigers Program with Cricket Tasmania and looks to be ready to take the next step as a 1st grade cricketer. Curtain has now got 15 games of experience under his belt, along with a match winning century in a second grade semi-final last year. The Knights look forward to seeing him in their top order throughout season 2023-24.

LINDISFARNE

Last year: First

Coach: Matt Wilkie

Captain: Mac Wright

Major ins: Harshtik Bimbral (NT)

Major outs: Ben McDermott (QLD), Tom Murrell (Clarence), Abdul Haseeb (overseas)

Coach says: “I think it [last season’s grand final win] has been huge in reinforcing our mentality that we need good consistent output throughout the round games, to get ourselves into finals – because anything can happen in finals if we back ourselves. We also lost two finals last season, as long as we put ourselves in those situations and learn then we will get better at backing ourselves when we get there. It is an exciting year for our young players who have shown glimpses of great stuff. This year will be a real opportunity for a lot of players to stand up and lead.”

Player to watch: Will Sanders – had a season adapting to Tassie conditions and a big pre-season. Coach Matt Wilkie predicted Sanders to produce consistent results with bat and ball.

NEW TOWN

Last year: Fourth

Coach: Peter Di Venuto

Captain: Mitchell Owen

Major ins: Caelan Maladay (Sydney)

Major outs: Tawanda Mupariwa (retired)

Coach says: “We’ve had a much shorter pre-season than previous seasons, but many senior players had been doing their own work or in small groups. It’s pleasing to see the growth of players taking ownership of their own games and driving standards. We will continue to see more improvement from the young players who have come into the team in the past two or three seasons. We also expect our captain Mitch Owen to play more consistently for Tasmania providing opportunities for others. As our young players become more consistent in their performance, we believe we will be right in the hunt come the end of the season to play finals again.”

Player to watch: Jesse Willmott – made his debut as a spin bowler, but the coach has always felt his batting would be what eventually becomes his primary skill. Showed glimpses last season and the Bucks look forward to some exponential growth. His bowling in shorten formats will again be important and New Town is looking forward to further improvement in his two-day cricket.

NORTH HOBART

Last year: Third

Coach: Richard Cowlard

Co-captains: Tom Rogers and Jack White

Major ins: Connor Shorten (Overseas), Nathan Hangan (Darwin), Ben Fraser (return from injury)

Major outs: Daniel Walker (Overseas), Jack Callinan

Coach says: “We’ve had a terrific pre-season. I am looking forward to seeing several players take the opportunity to showcase their talent while our state players are away. Our bowling has a lot of depth and if we can be consistent with the bat, I believe we will be in a good position at the end of the season.

Player to watch: Aiden Bariol – Bariol played his first season in Tasmania last summer and showed tremendous talent. Bariol is a wicketkeeper-batsman who has potential to take games away from the opposition. He will play a crucial role in helping North Hobart’s quest to reach the finals.

SOUTH HOBART-SANDY BAY

Last year: Seventh

Coach: Richard Allanby

Captain: Gabe Bell

Major ins: Sean Willis (year off), Caleb Oakes.

Major outs: Tom Andrews (SA), Eamon Vines (Victoria)

Coach says: “We’ve had a terrific pre-season and the club will give opportunities to our talented youth cricketers. Sean Willis returning is a huge bonus for our group as he is an experienced player and proven run scorer. Our younger players will be given an opportunity at times to perform up the grades and gain valuable experience. We have a genuine belief that these younger players are developing nicely and that they will play a huge role in the club’s future. New club captain Gabe Bell will lead the bowling attack when available and will nurture our young pace bowlers. Obviously losing Andrews and Vines will have an impact but it will allow others to step up and fill that void.”

Player to watch: Tom Willoughby – Left-hand top order batsman with a highest score of 180. Willoughby will look to have a more consistent run scoring season and will also get more opportunities with the ball. Good tactically and a reason why the Sharks elevated him to vice-captain.

UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA

Last year: Second

Coach: Damien Wright

Captain: Param Uppal

Major ins: Paddy Dooley (Western Suburbs QLD), Nikethan Radhakrishnan (Kingborough)

Major outs: Sam Harbinson (Ireland), Bailey Kenzie (Gold Coast), Noah Van der Werken (Brisbane)

Coach says: “We’ve lost a couple of key players in Harbinson and Bailey, but this gives others the opportunity to step up. Louis Smith is a terrific young all-rounder who will play a huge role in our team when he’s back from injury. Our bowling looks strong again with Tim Oakley and Mo Rizvi leading the way. Param Uppal will look to have a big season with plenty on runs and wickets. Zac Phair and Tom Chapman are two really talented young players, and we will need them to step up while our state boys are away. Brad Hope, Tim Ward, Paddy Dooley and Jake Doran when they playing with us make us a very strong side again for this upcoming season.”

Player to watch: Zac Phair – played some good cricket for the Lions in the Kookaburra Cup and T20 formats last year. Uni is now looking for him to play with that same intent during all formats going forward. He can hit the ball hard and the Lions are keen for him to get them away to good starts this season.

james.bresnehan@news.com.au

Originally published as CTPL season preview: Ins, outs and key players for every club