WILL this season’s Seymour District Cricket Association A Grade grand final be a rematch of last year’s decider between Broadford and Eastern Hill, or will a resurgent Tallarook earn the right to face the Eagles?
For much of this season Eastern Hill has looked a prohibitive favourite to capture back-to-back premierships, but two losses to Tallarook in the season’s final six rounds might have created some doubt in the minds of Eagles supporters.
Both Eastern Hill and Tallarook finished the season on 84 points, with the Eagles claiming top spot by percentage.
Also lurking is Broadford, which, after finishing runner-up last year, has put together another solid campaign to finish third with five wins and five losses in a truncated season.
With the SDCA A Grade competition this year employing a top three finals campaign, Yea Tigers and Seymour, who finished fourth and fifth respectively, will be relegated to watching from the sidelines while Tallarook and Broadford battle this weekend for the right to face the Eagles in the grand final.
Tallarook enters the do-or-die clash with form on its side after a comprehensive nine-wicket defeat of Seymour at the weekend.
The Rook’s bowling attack afforded the home side no breathing room, bowling Seymour out for 83 runs after more than 40 overs of play at a suffocating run rate of two an over.
No Seymour batsman topped 15 runs, with seven of the 11-man line-up dismissed for single figures.
Tallarook had no difficulty chasing the total down, losing only one wicket and requiring only 23.5 overs to surpass the 84-run target.
Broadford suffered a surprising slip-up against Yea Tigers in the final round, although the team was without some of its regular players.
The Tigers overcame early losses when sent in to bat, and built an innings of 8/238 on the contributions of opener Andrew Butterworth, 65, and number four batsman Brendan Ricci, 51.
Braden Hickey was the best of Broadford’s bowlers with 4/59, albeit at an expensive run rate of 6.56 an over.
In response, Broadford struggled to overcome the early losses of openers Gareth Sharp, duck, and Ash Wood, nine, and despite late-innings runs from skipper Taylor Shell, 40, and Jeremy Bradshaw, 42, the team was bowled out for 196, 42 runs short of victory.
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