Long-time foes RSL and Nyah District will write another chapter in their storied history in a clash of critical importance tomorrow.
The winner will take a big step towards securing a spot in this season’s Kookaburra Cup final, while it could be curtains for the loser.
The last three encounters between the two clubs have gone down to the wire, including last season’s 111-run apiece tie.
Nyah District captain Ben Shadbolt expected yet another hard-fought contest on the Gurnett Oval deck.
“It’s always a competitive game when we play RSL, no matter who plays for them, they just find a way, and I’m sure RSL is thinking the same about us,” Shadbolt said.
Blues skipper Ben Hallam admitted that Nyan District were always one of the teams to beat.
“The guys they have at their disposal you’ve got to be cautious of them,” Hallam said.
“Charlie Boulton’s obviously hitting the ball well and Walshy’s (Joel Walsh) back as well, so we’ll need to keep both of those guys in check.
“The two teams just match up against each other really well and there’s very rarely a blowout.”
The Demons welcome back hard-hitting middle order batsman Justin Toomey, while Brenton and Pat Caldwell return for RSL, along with James Downing. Stuart Patterson is the only confirmed out at this stage.
The Caldwell brothers add depth with the ball for the home side, but Shadbolt admitted their former captain Ryan Hinton, who averaged 85 against his side last season, was the player he was most keen to see the back of.
“They have some seriously good cricketers, but ‘Ryno’ (Hinton) is just a class above,” Shadbolt said.
“He’s so consistent and in my view, is possibly the best batsman in the competition and just always finds a way to score against us.
“His wicket is so valuable, if we can get him early, it will help set us up, but they still have plenty of other dangers with the bat, including Ben Hallam who has scored runs against us in the past as well and ‘Buddah’ (Paul Munro) is a class bat as well.”
The Demons suffered a loss last week, but Shadbolt described it as a “hiccup” and expected “a very different scenario tomorrow”.
After a strong start with the bat, the Blues lost 8-33 in the space of a handful of overs to disintegrate against the Raiders last Saturday.
Hallam was confident a return to their home deck would be the tonic to avoid a repeat performance.
“I think our strength is with the bat, we made a few blunders last week, which looking back may have cost us the game,” Hallam said.
“Losing wickets in clumps like that is something we don’t particularly want to be known for doing, but with that, our bowling stocks will be strengthened this week as well.
“Hopefully we can rectify those little mistakes we made last week and get a different result tomorrow.”
