Grand final re-match set to light up competition
Cobram will be looking to book a spot in the Murray Valley Cricket Association A-grade grand final on Saturday, when it battles the Deniliquin Rhinos at the Cobram Showgrounds.
The Tigers, who finished the regular season on top and undefeated, beat Deniliquin twice this season, along with beating the Rhinos in the grand final last year.
Cobram coach Adam Harwood said his side is ready for the contest.
“We’re confident going in, we’ve had a pretty good season but it only takes one bad game to end it — as we did a couple of years ago,” Harwood said.
“I think all the teams that made finals, including Barooga, are pretty good opponents.
“Deni are a very good side, they have still got some very good players in their side so we won’t be taking it lightly at all.”
Both the Tigers and the Rhinos are coming off a week off due to poor weather, however Harwood did not think this would impact the game.
“Although we’ve got a young side, we’re pretty experienced — we’ve all been together for a couple of years,” he said.
“We’ve got a few old heads in there, we’ll have a good hit out this week at training and see how we go from there.”
Harwood said his side was not
thinking about last season’s grand final win, and he did not expect Deniliquin would be either.
“We just take — it’s a bit of a cliche — but each week at a time, its not a big motivating factor for us at all.
“We just try and control what we can control, we know what our strengths are and we just try and play to them.
“Its a pretty even comp, I think anyone can win on their day and I
think there are probably two games that can go either way.”
Whoever wins the contest will take on the winner of the other semi-final, with Katamatite taking on Nathalia in Katamatite.
Both sides also had a weekend off last week, with the rain keeping the covers on.
In the one A-grade game that did get played, Barooga beat Katunga by 25 runs.
A Riley Gow 44 was the highlight of the Hawks batting, while Katunga’s Matthew Carson picked up 2-12.
For the Hawks, some economical bowling got the side over the line, with nine players rolling the arm over, including Will Sharp (2-21) and Kale Watkins (2-22).
The win still was not enough for the Hawks to sneak into the top four, missing out on finals by a small percentage margin.
In B-grade action, all of the top four sides won on the weekend, setting up an exciting semi-final weekend.
Table toppers Berrigan will host Katamatite, while Cobram will take on Strathmerton.
In C-grade, Cobram will face the same opponents two weeks in a row, set to battle Finley — and Strathmerton will travel to Katunga.