Showers only decider cloud
Cricket Far North one-day premiership goes up for grabs
WEATHER seems to be the only threat to what shapes as a pulsating one-day grand final between Mulgrave and United at Edmonton’s Fuller Park this afternoon.
The home side is lining up in a sixth straight one-day grand final but a first on their own turf since Cricket Far North chose to reward clubs with hosting rights for finishing top of the ladder.
United last appeared in a one-day final in 2012, and while Kieren Gibbs wasn’t there, he hoped for much the same result against a “quality side” synonymous with success.
“They have a quality side. I think their top five batsmen for two or three years have probably been the best around and they’ve got a great bowling attack,” he said.
“They know what game they want to play and at any time of the game they can turn it up a notch, so with the bat and the ball we’ve just got to be prepared for that.
“We’re happy with the brand of cricket we play in the shorter format, one-day and T20. We just try to be consistent, sort of play to our strengths.
“What’s worked for us is putting teams under pressure and sustaining that.
“That seems to be the key to us restricting sides and bowling them out.”
Will Robertson had 12th man duties in last year’s oneday grand final against Norths but will finally get his chance to play the limited overs decider today.
The young spinner has jumped into the top five highest wicket-takers in the competition after eight wickets in his past three matches, despite claiming he's “not really a oneday bowler”.
“I like to play two-day cricket, work the batsmen over. I don’t like to have a limited numbers of overs. I like to get in there, do my stuff and suss them out a little bit,” he said.
Mulgrave will carry some bruises into the final after a heated indoor training session on Wednesday, but Robertson said the fact the squad made the effort to get there was proof the club’s strong culture was well in action.
“We play for each other, we all put in the hard yards throughout the season and we just know how to come through at the right time,” he said.
“It’s just credit to the boys for getting down to training and showing that they want to play good, hard cricket at finals time.”
Play in the 40-over match at Fuller Park is due to start at 12.30pm.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a 90 per cent chance of showers today, with the potential for falls in the vicinity of 20mm-50mm.