WHILE red ball cricket has been the focus for most Swan Hill District Cricket Association clubs the past couple of weeks, for St Mary’s Tyntynder and Wandella, the lure of the Kookaburra Cup grand final has been in the back of their minds.
The last round of the Kookaburra Cup was held the first week back after Christmas.
Now the Saints and Bombers go back into their white ball processes and tactics for the final at Ken Harrison Reserve on Australia Day.
The Bombers will have to pull off one of the great upsets in recent memory, with the Saints heading in the warmest of favourites at their home ground and keen to avenge their T20 grand final loss from earlier in the season.
On current form alone, the Saints appear to be brimming with confidence even though they have only played one game since Christmas, a massive 119-run win against a depleted RSL at the weekend.
For the Bombers, they were smashed by the competition’s form side Nyah District twice before having the bye on Saturday.
That bye couldn’t have come at a better time, allowing Wandella at least be fresh heading into the big game.
It has been a weird season in the Cup, with the competition being struck hard by washouts during the flood crisis.
Both sides have only played three 40-over games, with St Mary’s going undefeated.
The Saints have consistently been the benchmark in short-form cricket in the SHDCA for a couple of years now.
Wandella’s record of 2-1 in the Cup could be deceiving.
These two victories came in close wins against average opponents in Ultima TUF and Swan Hill before being demolished by Nyah a fortnight ago.
A lot will ride on captain Gregory Dickson with the bat.
The Bombers thrive when their star batsman makes runs but lose a bit of vigour when he isn’t playing or fails – however rare that is.
Besides Dickson, only Daniel Higgs (109, averaging 13.63) has made more than 100 runs this season.
Their bowling attack, while holding no superstars, is dependable.
Bohden McKnight is one of the competition’s brightest young stars, while fellow opener Ryan Barnes has been consistent as ever this season.
The Bombers’ fourth and fifth bowling options could be an issue against one of the best batting line-ups in the SHDCA, which has only gotten stronger in the past week.
One of the Saints’ finest exports, Jonty Chaproniere, has returned to the club and reminded everyone of his class on Saturday, hitting 59 from 47 balls against RSL.
Chaproniere joins the likes of Jake Foster, Bailey Codling and Jack Shannahan in an extremely strong top order.
The Bombers can take some confidence out of RSL’s weekend performance with Cameron Cook dismissing Foster (0), Codling (0) and Shannahan (4) cheaply.
However, even if you get through them, you still have to deal with a line-up that bats all the way down to the tail.
Where the Saints’ greatest strength lies, though, is their bowling.
Skipper Nathaniel Holmes-Brown, Robin Sebastian and Corey Daniels are some of the hardest bowlers to get away in the SHDCA.
If that wasn’t tough enough, the Saints hold the title as the competition’s premier fielding side.
Dickson is the one man from the Bombers who has the quality to counteract the Saints at their best, which is what he’ll need to do if there to be any chance on Thursday afternoon.
Funny things happen in grand finals and it would be stupid to write off a Bombers side with quality experienced and young players, but the Saints are as close to unbackable favourites as you can get for a match of this magnitude.
