Preview of weekend’s cricket finals

By Cricket | February 25, 2016 at 9:52 am 0 Comments

Yass District Cricket Finals Preview

The previous four months become a distant memory as teams enter the finals of the Yass District Cricket Association. In what has been a most competitive season, premierships in each of the three grades are up for grabs.

TRIGGS SHIELD – A GRADE

Minor premiership winners Yass Golf Club have had a consistent season, being on top of the ladder or close to it throughout. Daniel Poidevin holds the key for Golf Club, he finished the season as the competition’s leading run scorer, and the only member of the team to figure in the top 10 run scorers. He’s in a rich vein of form, however, should Poidevin fail during the finals, Golf Club may lack the fire power to go all the way.

Having said that, their bowling has been superb, often restricting teams to small tallies. Podevin and wily veterans Robert Field and Chris Bradley are backed up by young gun Luke Southwell and wicket keeper Boyd Roche who improves season by season.

Golf Club’s opponent in the major semi-final are defending premiers Bowning. The regular season would’ve been a distraction for the Buffaloes, who have been focussed on defending their maiden tile.

They take a well-balanced team into the finals with a strong bowling attack led by Beau Walker, the competition’s leading wicket-taker, Dave Brown and A J O’Mara. Both Walker and Brown have had a strong season with the bat as has captain Andrew Swaffield, who aside from his strong captaincy is averaging over 50 with the bat.

Both minor semi-finalists will fancy their chances of stringing three victories in a row to claim the title. Royal Pirates came oh so close to making last year’s decider, losing their way when in control of the prelim final against Bowning.

This season may be different, they possess the batting power through representative players Adam Forth, Nick Pollack and Matt Lawrence and have a reliable bowling attack led by Tom Parr, Andrew Holgate and the versatile Pollack.

Their minor-semi opponent Yass Soldiers Club are enigmatic, at their best they have the arsenal to take the title but have rarely fielded their strongest eleven this season. Captain Dave Field is starting to come back into the form at the crease and will receive good support from livewire Chris Rawlinson and hard hitting Craig Irwin.

They have the bowling attack to threaten most teams with captain Field, Rawlinson and Irwin receiving strong support from Josh O’Brien. The Snipers have the added bonus of having Joel Copeland behind the stumps.

Any of the four teams could have medals around their neck on presentation night, but the tip is the Pirates narrowly over last years premiers Bowning.

SWEENEY CUP – B GRADE

The Sweeney Cup appears to be a two-horse contest between Murrumbateman and perennial finalists Gundaroo. Gundaroo will be chock full of confidence after demolishing Murrumbateman when they met two  weeks ago. However, it was no fluke Murrumbateman finished as minor premier, they lost only one game during the season and have James Gray and Andrew Clarke, who can score plenty of runs and a solid bowling attack of Andrew McLean, Wayne McIllhatton and James Gray who all took more than 15 season wickets.

Gundaroo is strong with bat and ball and would more than challenge most A Grade teams. Anthony Mortimer, Robert Clarke and Sean Egan are all capable of scoring a lot of runs while Jamie Hogan, Mitchell Gallagher and Jeremy Clarke are among the competitions leading bowlers.

The minor-semi-final should also be an even contest. Yass Golf Club Taipans and Harden played a close contest only last week with the Taipans prevailing by two wickets. Both sides have come a long way this season with plenty of their younger players noticeably maturing and featuring more in games.

The Taipans will depend on captain Adrian Waters to form the backbone of their innings while free hitting Bayley Maher has impressed on several occasions.  They will receive good support from senior players Paul Barnes, Lachlan and Iain Kemp.

Young left arm opening bowler Dylan Percival has taken the competition by storm and will eager to continue his form through the finals. The Taipans have good variety in their attack through veteran spinner Bryan Potter, Bayley Maher and miserly Lachlan Kemp.

Harden caught many by surprise this season and earned their finals spot. Not noted for putting together large totals, much will depend on Tyler Allen and veteran captain Kelvin Brown.  Harden will look to Jeffrey Brown and Marty Smith to take the bulk of their wickets.

The standout teams this season have been Murrumbateman and Gundaroo and they should feature in the end of season decider with Gundaroo looking the goods to take the title.

YASS SOLDIERS CLUB SHIELD – C GRADE

Of the three grades this was the closest with only three points separating the top four teams at season’s end.

Yass Golf Club Colts, who formed this year to bring together a bunch of mates, finished the season as minor premiers. They have the talent to be an influence on the finals with several batsman capable of applying themselves for a big score.

James McDermott, Tom Roche, Mark Holt, Liam McKenzie and Borin Yuos have been the source of their runs while Hussein Kassouh, up and coming Josh Davy and Borin Yuos are regular contributors with the ball. The Colts will be smarting after their controversial loss last week to the Yass Soldiers Club Horns, who they take on again in the major semi final.

The Horns won last year’s Sweeney Cup and on paper are the team to beat for this years C Grade title. Joe Logue, Josh Paton and Brad Hansen will lead the way in the run scoring department while their bowling stocks are strong with Logue, Paton and Hansen supported by Luke Darmody, Anthony Kennedy and Andrew Hanson.

The minor semi-final appears an even contest with Boorowa hosting Binalong. Boorowa has done well to feature in the finals in their first season. Mick Canellis, Mick Elkins, Mathew Batt and Murray Armour will form the core of their batting Mark Poplin and Damien Harton will be expected to take plenty of wickets.

Last year’s C Grade premiers Binalong are back to defend their title and cannot be underestimated. The Bushrangers have a number of match-winning batsmen including Mark Dyball, George Knight, Jason Howard and Drew Arabin and a robust bowling attack led by Mick Paterson, Dylan Arabin, James Woodhead, Jason Howard and Drew Arabin.

Yass Soldiers Club look the goods to defeat Binalong in the grand final.

This week’s matches Saturday February 27:

TRIGGS SHIELD – A GRADE

Major Semi – Yass Golf Club vs Bowning @ Victoria Park, Yass

Minor Semi – Royal Pirates vs Yass Soldiers Club @ Tim Doolan Oval, Harden

SWEENEY CUP –B GRADE

Major Semi – Murrumbateman  vs Gundaroo  @ Murrumbateman Recreation Grounds

Minor Semi – Yass Golf Club  vs Harden @ O’Connor Park, Yass

TRIGGS SHIELD – A GRADE

Major Semi – Yass Golf Club vs Yass Soldiers Club @ Bowning Oval

Minor Semi – Borowa vs Binalong @ Borrowa

Al games commence at 12.30pm

Saturday April 2 – YDCA Presentation Dinner, 7pm at Yass Soldiers Club.