THE Swan Hill District Cricket Association’s (SHDCA) semi-finals will be held over two days this weekend.
Nyah District and St Mary’s Tyntynder will meet at the showgrounds, while RSL and Swan Hill will play at Gurnett Oval.
For the winners, its through to next weekend’s grand final. Nyah will be keen to get there and defend its 2012/13 crown, while RSL will want to take something out of a season spent on top of the ladder.
Nyah District v St Mary’s Tyntynder
NYAH District will go into its semi-final as clear favourite over the less experienced St Mary’s Tyntynder, despite the latter inflicting two defeats on the Demons through the regular season.
The reigning premier, Nyah has been in the top two all year, while St Mary’s has jumped up to third in the last couple of weeks.
But Nyah captain Shane Fleming said the Demons won’t take St Mary’s lightly.
“They’ve been one of the form sides all season, it’s no surprise to have them in the semi-final,” he said.
“And with them having beaten us twice already this year we know how good a side they are.”
Fleming said he was not anticipating any changes to the Nyah side this week.
He said it would be the experience of the Demons that would get them through to a second consecutive grand final berth.
“Most guys played in the flag last season, with the exception of one or two younger blokes,” he said. “Whereas St Mary’s predominantly is a team of younger guys.”
Fleming said Nyah had been improving all season but that there is still room for improvement going into the semi-final.
“You can always get better,” he said.
“We need to bat out our 80 overs and bat in partnerships.”
St Mary’s president Lyndon Chaproniere said the side would go into the semi-final with “no baggage”.
“I think they’ll just go in there with their eyes open and play with no baggage,” he said.
“There’s no expectation.”
Chaproniere said the inexperienced St Mary’s batting line-up needed to focus on batting through the 80 overs.
He said Corey Daniels, Brent Daniels and Jonty Chaproniere would all be important with the bat for the underdogs.
“If they can bat for a bit of time that will hold us in good stead,” he said.
Chaproniere said the bowling of experienced campaigner James King would also be important for St Mary’s.
“He’s a very experienced, steady bowler these days. He’s experienced with finals and his leadership is important to the group,” he said.
RSL v Swan Hill
SWAN Hill will be very confident of causing an upset when it takes on RSL in the first semi.
RSL has been on top of the ladder most of the season, but the Swans have been a thorn in their side twice in recent weeks.
Most recently, they proved too strong for the Blues in round 15 of the regular season.
Wayne Gurnett said RSL would take “much the same side” in as it had for round 15.
“I’d say so. There could be one or two changes, we’re not sure yet,” he said.
Gurnett said RSL would be confident despite the recent head-to-head record favouring the Swans.
“I don’t think there’s any pressure on them. There hasn’t been much in either of those games,” he said.
“I just hope they can learn a few things from the game that they’ve just played.”
