Minor premier Lindenow South Glenaladale will be hoping to turn its form around this weekend when it hosts the late blooming St Mary’s Nagle at Lindenow South Recreation Reserve in a winner-take-all semi final.
The winner will advance to next week’s grand final at the Meerlieu Recreation Reserve against either Lakes Entrance or the competition’s in-form side Wy Yung.
The Bulls have looked the side to beat all season but have suffered four defeats with three of those since the Christmas break, which isn’t ideal for a side that looked almost unbeatable early in the season.
Two of those losses were at the hands of the rampaging Tigers and the other at the hands of Lakes Entrance in the recent one-day final.
Their side is littered with big occasion players and you would expect them to bounce back and be more competitive in this crunch match against the Saints.
They have a quality batting line up led by Haydn Erfurth and Luke Schumann, who have both made centuries this season.
Scott Dare is usually good for 30, while Scott Davidson, Zachary O’Keefe, Nathan King and Logan Dunkley are more than capable of making runs.
Backing them up is an attack led by co-captain Mel Irish who is alway a force to be reckoned with at Lindenow South. He gets good support from King, though he does go in with an injury concern to his calf.
Seth Smith can get on a roll, while Jamie Donnelly offers left arm variety, with Dunkley and Nathan Pollard excellent spin options.
St Mary’s Nagle has won six matches for the season, including four of its past five matches, clinching a finals berth with an outright and reverse outright wins in the final two matches of the season.
Their batting is led by skipper Ricky Tatnell, Brayden McCarrey and one of the surprise packets of the season, Harvey Spaxman, while Ethan East has the ability to go big.
Nathan Yarde, Hywel Nichols, Reece Carstairs and Flynn Thompson have all been welcome additions through the resurgence.
Tatnell leads a solid bowling attack, which usually consists of Jonny Lash, Randall Stewart and tweaker Spaxman.
It will be interesting to see if Lash’s work commitment allow him to play this week.
Nagle has played a variety of players this season and it will be intriguing to see the composition of the team.
If Lash is unavailable, Scott Scicluna comes into the mix, or could they spring a surprise and include Tim Bull, who impressed when he played.
THIS WEEK’S MATCHES
“A” grade: Lindenow South Glenaladale v St Mary’s Nagle (Lindenow South Recreation Reserve); Lakes Entrance v Wy Yung (Lakes Entrance Recreation Reserve).
“B” grade: Bruthen v West Bairnsdale (Bruthen Recreation Reserve); Lucknow v Wy Yung (Hudson-Alvin).
“C” grade: Lucknow v Paynesville (Lucknow Recreation Reserve); Sarsfield v Meerlieu (Sarsfield Recreation Reserve).
