By JARROD POTTER
WGCA DISTRICT GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
THE middle phase of Pakenham Upper/Toomuc’s batting will prove pivotal to either its victory or Clyde’s triumph in this week’s District finale.
Can the Yabbies order stand up around Ben Spicer (605 runs), captain Scott Clark (516) and Nick Fairbank (455) – the three men who account for 53 per cent of all PUT runs this District season?
Similar fortunes with the bowling as Clark (44 wickets) and Fairbank (25) have shone as the rest of the attack plays the supporting-and-negating roles to a tee.
Will it be just the three Musketeers … or can the Yabbies next eight stand alongside the top three, instead of those men striding well ahead of the pack?
On the flip side, Clyde’s magnificent bowling – that scorched Devon Meadows (121), Officer (155) and Pakenham Upper/Toomuc (101) in recent clashes – will charge in as usual.
Carlisle Park (222) was the only blip in their data, but there’s plenty of reason to fear the Cougars’ attack. Much has been written about the quartet and Clyde’s also got some handy part-time options through Simpson, Kane Avard and Webster. But most of the onus falls to Kyle Brooke (35 wickets), Nick Miles (22) and Dean Williams (19) – who have sheared away most opposing attacks.
Yabbies skipper Clark thinks the order has improved in recent weeks and the chinks in the middle/lower order armour have been buffed out heading into the finale.
“There are blokes in our side who have made 80 runs for the year with a high score of 40, so they’ve made 40 in nine hits,” Clark said.
“Without going over the top and embarrassing them, I said they need to stand up.
“Saturday (the final against Devon Meadows) when we had a hit that was probably one of the best team performances I’ve been involved in – probably only one score under 30 – so it’s just about the boys playing their part and they did it really well.”
Clark has it boiling down to his side’s batting versus Clyde’s bowling as the match-decider – winner takes all, especially the spot in the Premier ranks next season.
The home grand final makes it all the sweeter for the Yabbies, who have a chance to return to Premier after their ejection in the 2013/14 season.
“That’s something the boys have got to take on now, they’ve earned this and deserve it as much as anyone else,” Clark said.
Clyde on the other hand has vengeance on the agenda with its minor premiership last season the only thing to show of its 2014/15 early exit.
“Start of the year we set our sights on getting there after finishing on top last year not making it,” Simpson said.
“For all of us it’s that unfinished business from last year; this is what we’ve played all year for to get to the granny and now we have to hopefully stand up and play our best game for the year.”
The Cougars have steadily chipped their way through the opposition throughout the season with the ball, but remain an up-and-down entity standing behind the bat.
Let’s not forget the inverse equation – can Clyde post or chase 200 and really threaten Pakenham Upper/Toomuc?
Clyde’s arsenal mostly comes from its bowling, but who knows what twists and turns will be revealed come Saturday.
Clyde can make the runs – it has 250-plus scores this season – but the Cougars (2653 runs) are effectively minus-300 off the Yabbies’ (2932 runs) season aggregate. More importantly – the Cougars don’t have the three-pronged attack that Pakky Upper’s batting features.
John Simpson (481 runs) is the consistent force, but needs more help from the rest of the order.
The next two on the Clyde aggregate list are number nine Nick Miles (301) and wicketkeeper Dan Walton (300) – who has batted up and down the order but now seems settled in the middle order. Bilal Abbas (286) is well overdue and needs to boost his average beyond 19.07 while Shane Webster (193) anchored the effort last week and will need to play out of his skin again this time around.
Simpson has a similar ethos to Clark on the match outcome; whoever bats out of their skin will likely take the flag.
“When we’ve played each other the three times during the year – we’ve both had times where our batting line-ups have struggled,” Simpson said.
“One time we bowled them out for 80 and then they bowled us for 100.
“We’ve both got pretty good bowlers, but it’s whoever’s batting line-up that can really stand up and put that score on the board.
“Bowling wise they’ve got Clarkey and Fairy and we’ve got our really good bowlers too so it’s whichever batting line-up can stand up.”
Head up the hill to Pakenham Upper for the District final, starting 1.00pm on Saturday.
