Our time to shine
Brahmans feeling bullish about chances ahead of one-day matches
FAR North all-rounder Brenton Edwards says the only team that can stop Queensland Country claiming backto-back national titles is themselves despite a grand final defeat in the T20 section.
The Brahmans dropped their first game in Geraldton, Western Australia, but won their next three before scraping into the decider despite a loss to NSW Country to end the group stage.
The traditional rivals were again too good, with a 39-run victory in the final on Sunday, but Edwards said the one-day section, starting today after a much-needed rest day, would better suit the Queensland boys.
“It’s more about executing our plans. If we do that, I don’t think there’s any side here that can beat us,” he said.
“We’ve just got to make sure we do the little one percenters and that will definitely point us in the right direction to winning all these games.
“In the games against NSW, they probably had better plans and just executed them and that’s probably why they came out on top.
“We’re only two points behind NSW and in the one-dayers you can get bonus points so every day we’ll be doing our best to get wins with bonus points.”
Edwards said the biggest challenge would be managing fatigue after six T20 matches in the first four days.
Norths all-rounder Chris Stanger, Queensland’s secondhighest wicket-taker of the tournament alongside Michael Salerno, said their best was yet to come.
“We’ve got a lot of improvement in us, so hopefully if we can do that we can knock NSW off,” he said.
Mulgrave all-rounder Jake Roach has returned to action after suffering a rib injury in the opening game against East Asia Pacific.
Gold Coast batsman James Spargo (134 runs) and Central Queensland bowler Jason Seng (10 wickets) are topping the charts for the Brahmans midway through the tournament.