Sports journalists Ben Hann and Josh Partridge discuss this week's news in cricket and basketball for episode 74 of The Press Box. Video by Aaron Smith and Paul Scambler (6/11/24)
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00:00Welcome one and all to another episode of the Pressbox. Episode 74 today. My name is Ben Hand,
00:12joined once again by Josh Partridge. We're fully into cricket season these days,
00:16pretty much feels like summer at the moment Josh. But before we get into any of that,
00:21we're going to start with everyone's favourite segment, Numerology.
00:30So this week's Josh, as you can attest to, took a little bit of research, took a little bit of
00:36scrambling, 74 is unfortunately not... A little bit of clutching at straws,
00:39you might say. I wouldn't go that far, but it's certainly not as common a number as I would have
00:44liked for it to have been. This number is important in Tasmanian sport Josh, because
00:50Jamie Cox's first class and list A batting averages combined equals 74. If you want the
00:58actual maths, it's 42.69 plus 31.75 which equals 74.44, rounded down to 74.
01:05Well to steal one of your quotes Ben, every day is a school day, thanks for letting me know that.
01:08No, no worries. Well, on that note, we do have some more cricket material. It's been a really
01:15interesting start to the Cricket North season, but it's actually been highlighted by some experienced
01:20veterans bringing up the old double century as it were, but this time in games played for their
01:26clubs. Yeah, we've had three over the past two weeks. This week was Ramesh Sundar's turn from
01:31Riverside, and then the week before there was Luke Scott and Cam Lynch. Those last two have
01:36captained their club, whereas Ram has been around Riverside for ages. Ramesh is a bit older than the
01:42others, having played at another club before coming to Riverside, but yeah, Scotty and Lynch
01:48here are both massive parts of their club. Lynch is the current captain, Scotty handed over the reins
01:54to young Spencer Hayes this year, but yeah, they're guys that are heavily respected, not just in their
02:00club land, but in the whole competition as well. Yeah, absolutely, and as Cam showed just yesterday
02:07in that great game between Launceston and Burnie, he's still got great touch in a matter of half
02:12century, ultimately losing cause unfortunately for the Lions. But I suppose we'll move on to
02:18what's coming next now with the Raiders program, obviously has been really good at bringing through
02:26these young female and male cricketers, hopefully to get to the top level. Someone who has been a
02:31real trailblazer in that is Emma Mannix-Jeeves. She hit a century in the first of two games against
02:36Clarence for the Raiders as she awaits potentially a WBBL contract, we hope. But yeah, she spoke
02:43really honestly about how it was quite disappointing, she wasn't really giving the opportunities she
02:47liked in that spring tournament because she wasn't a Hobart Hurricanes listed player, so they had no
02:52obligation to prioritise her, but all she can do is make runs, which is exactly what she did.
03:00Yeah, to put it bluntly, she's a star and it's incredibly disappointing that she isn't contracted
03:06during the WBBL. I mean, her form in the WNCL, which is obviously the longer format, has been
03:12fantastic. She scored 100 in that final two years ago, she's done everything that she needs to do
03:18right, but somehow she's not in the best eight wicketkeepers in the country, which I can't really
03:24fathom, but that's a biased term for someone that knows Emma and all that kind of stuff. But yeah,
03:30it's incredibly disappointing that she hasn't been able to find herself on a list, especially
03:35with some injuries to some wicketkeepers around the country as well. It's a bit mind-boggling
03:40really, but I suppose some of the states have brought in import wicketkeepers, which doesn't
03:47help as well, Tasmania Hurricanes being one of them, so it's a tough nut wicketkeeping, isn't it?
03:54It's a really tough position to crack into. Exactly, it's like a goalkeeper, there's only one spot for
03:58her, so you're either in or you're out. She is a great wicketkeeper though, as well as being a great
04:04batter. I know she has changed her approach this summer to be a lot more aggressive. I mean, she
04:08hit that century pretty much at a 200-strong grade, just about. Look, I don't think she has
04:15any doubts over her ability. She said as much. As you sort of said, look, there could be opportunities
04:22to come. You don't hope for injuries, and I know she certainly doesn't, but that is where the
04:26opportunity will arise. Reports are that Lizelle Lee isn't even 100%, so she could even find
04:31herself back at the Hurricanes after all of this, but look, yeah, she can only wait and
04:38continue to make these runs. She's got to play Tasmania's second XI, which is a slightly new
04:42concept for the women, but yeah, that's all she can do, and I suppose moving on to the men's side,
04:47we've now actually had a male player go from a teenager all the way through the Raiders program
04:53to playing senior level Tasmanian Tigers cricket, but we could be on the verge of having our very
04:58first rookie. Yes, so we are talking about Aidan O'Connor, who took six wickets for the
05:03Grand Northern Raiders on the weekend, so he's, over the past year, he's represented Australia
05:08in the under-19s. He's gone to India for that, played second XI cricket for the Tigers, and
05:15he's really becoming one of the well-known players in not just the CTPL, but Tasmanian cricket and
05:21Australian cricket overall now, so he's really pushing his case. It's his second year as a
05:28rookie in the Tasmanian cricket setup, so it'd be really interesting to see whether he can be
05:34selected sometime soon. Look, Bo Epps is in his 30s, he's obviously playing some amazing cricket,
05:39but he is that ilk, that sort of type of player, that fast-medium bowler who can peel off runs
05:46when he's at his absolute best, so he's certainly got someone he can look up to and really model
05:50his game off, and I think that might be a really helpful thing. We'll now move over to potentially
05:56really massive news in basketball. The Jack Jumpers played their second and final game at
06:00the Silverdome for this NBL season, but just ahead of that, Larry Kesterman, the owner of both the
06:06Jack Jumpers and the NBL, and soon-to-be WNBL, and Christine Finnegan, the CEO of the Jack Jumpers,
06:14further announced their plans to have a WNBL team. This is not new information, Josh, but what was
06:19new was that they planned to have it should they get a licence in the WNBL. Based in Launceston and
06:27Devonport, or just the north and northwest more generally, there's a lot of things that have to
06:32come out of this. Facilities need a massive improvement, so Devonport's getting potentially
06:36a 2,000-seat stadium that looks like it's on the cards, and Silverdome is due upgrades that are
06:43impending to be done by November 1st next year. So that is going to happen from the sounds of
06:49things, but whether the team happens or not is another question, but I suppose, you know, for
06:56basketball fans, it's still really exciting. Yeah, it is, and it's not just the fans as well, it's the
07:00players. So yesterday I had a chat to Micah Simpson, who's from Launceston but now plays
07:06WNBL for the Bendigo Spirit, and I obviously didn't say, are you coming to Tasmania the second the
07:11team happens, but she said it's going to be really important for the girls to see that there's a
07:15full pathway. Obviously you've got the Launceston Tornadoes and the Hobart Chargers in the NBL
07:20one, which is underneath the WNBL, but to have that complete pathway for Tasmania's young girls
07:26and young athletes, it's fantastic, the possibility of it. So yeah, it'd be really great to see, and I
07:32think it needs to happen, just put simply. Yeah, I think there's definitely some
07:37government support, and I think getting in before the devils is certainly something that could push
07:41it along. But that brings me on to this week's landmark segment, Handicap Hits.
07:55So Josh, first of all, it's great news that potentially there's a late sporting program
08:00coming out of Launceston, like that's really massive for a place of this size, but do you
08:04think, should there be a WNBL team here and in the North West, that people will get behind it,
08:10and it'll be a well-attended team? It's an interesting one. I do feel like anything with
08:15the Jackjumpers moniker will work. I think the fact that the Jackjumpers are behind this and
08:22all that kind of thing, but at the same time I think it's going to be really important to get
08:26the right personalities behind this. I think if you can sign a player that's got a personality
08:34that everyone can get behind, you need your figureheads, I think. And I think if there's a
08:40player, like basically a female, Josh Adams like they had at the beginning, or Jack McVay, or
08:44something like that, that can be signed, and someone that the crowd can just attach themselves
08:51to, I think that's going to have to be really important. And unfortunately that's possibly more
08:56important in the women's game than it is in the men's game. Yeah, I think that's obviously a side
09:00effect, which is you wish it wasn't that way, but sometimes that just has to be that way. I think
09:07keeping it to the Jackjumpers name is a great first step, should that end up happening. And I
09:12think the novelty, at least for those first few years, of having a national team based out of
09:20Launceston and Devonport will at least bring more casual spectators and stuff like that, but it is
09:25not necessarily about getting those for the first years, but keeping those along the ride.
09:30But there's certainly an increasing basketball culture, Launceston Tornadoes
09:35obviously would be a great understudy, and hopefully develop those Tasmanians through
09:38that team. So if you can get Tasmanians into those initial teams as well, that'd be even more important
09:43and would help its success even more. But who knows, the Silverdome could look a lot better
09:49by the time that team comes in, and it might be a place where people really want to go to.
09:53I certainly hope it works. Now we're introducing a new segment, unfortunately with Brian being away
09:59on parental leave, we've had to fill the void of Brian's Extremely Difficult Sports Quiz,
10:05and Josh has entered the fray. So this week we're debuting this new segment, Josh's Hero of the Week.
10:13Now, I want this to be a local person every week as much as we can. This local hero, we talked about
10:21Everman XG's at the top of the show, and she stole the headlines in the Raiders' first game,
10:25but in the second game, my Hero of the Week is Ava Kurtz. She took 5 for 11 and then made 56
10:32not out, which is impressive as it is, but she's not the only one who's made 56 not out.
10:38She was at Coldplay in Melbourne the night before and flew back to play this game of cricket,
10:44or these games of cricket, sorry, and she's pulled out a performance like that.
10:48So that is an extremely deserving first ever Josh Partridge Hero of the Week.
10:53Tell you what, if I knew enough Coldplay songs, I might be able to make a pun out of that, but I don't.
10:58So that's all the time we have for this week's episode of Josh's Hero of the Week.
11:03Unfortunately, we'll see you guys around for the next one.