COOMEALLA-Wentworth’s fight for the finals has reached D-Day, with their tough match against Mildura Settlers at the Senior College now a must-win.
The Blues now sit one and a half wins behind Mildura East in the finals race and with only three rounds left, desperately need to gain ground on their opponents.
East will also be locked in a tough battle with Merbein South at Chaffey Park, while Workers-Gol Gol will be looking to build on their impressive win last week against Mildura West at Aero Ovals.
The Blues’ batting order in the past few rounds has failed to fire, but Jeremy Giddings has had a fantastic run-scoring season, and Tom Douglas has been steadfast in the middle order.
Glen Stephen will want his end to the season on par with his bright start, while all-rounders in Tim Smith and Tim Plumridge will prove to be the danger players for the match.
Stuart Watson had a fantastic season with the ball last year but has not duplicated that success, while Myles Wade has a habit of picking up handy wickets.
After a slower start to the season, reigning premiers Setts have been in great touch, the opening pairing of Richie Wyld and Ben Rowles steadfast.
Contributors up and down the order help strengthen the batting order, with Michael Masotti and Adam Shepherd standing up last round, as well as Ben Harris.
Harris and Shepherd lead the Setts’ wicket-taking list, with Travis Shawcross also in the top 10 in the competition.
Setts would be expected to win, but not without a fight from the Blues.
An upset win to East over a Merbein South side fresh off the bye would all but secure them a place in the finals.
The outstanding form of Tom Vadlja and Brad Thomas has been a catalyst for East’s strong season, while Jordan Birch has also bowled well.
The Saints’ bowling attack has been the strongest in the league this season with Matt Walder (33) Shane Trinnick (22) and Tony Trinnick (15) all featuring heavily among the wickets.
Skipper Adam Thomson has also shown the way with the bat.
The Saints will be favoured to win almost every match through to the end of the season.
Finally, after a monster win against Irymple last week, Workers-Gol Gol will hope to use that momentum against bottom-placed Mildura West this round.
Young Ryan McClure was the star with the bat last round with 93, while Brett Cumming (72), Andrew Petrie (47) and Nick Carroll (36) all showed form with the bat.
After missing matches early, Matt Cameron has been in devastating wicket-taking form and has a host of all-rounders to help get the wickets quickly.
While West have not had much to cheer about this season, improvement in their youngsters in the likes of Ben Atkinson, Tom Hewitt, Jacson Collins and Jayden Zanoni will be heartening, and Chris Williams’ all-round form has been strong.
Irymple have the bye.
This article appeared in Saturday’s Sunraysia Daily 28/01/2012.
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