South Bendigo will take on Kangaroo Flat for the division nine premiership at Eaglehawk in what are two vastly different teams.

The South Bendigo team is primarily made up of ex-cricketers who have opted for a change in pace this summer, as well as some footballers, with only one of Saturday’s grand final members having previously played the sport.

On the other hand, the Kangaroo Flat side is chock full of experience.

The youngest member of the side is 67-year-old skipper Alan Johnston; the oldest is 91-year-old Jim Grotto, with the average age of the team of eight vying for the premiership 83.

“We’ve got on really well with South Bendigo the two times we’ve played them this season,” Kangaroo Flat’s Bill Walker said.

“One of the games we played against them, one of their guys had been married the previous Saturday and during the game we spoke about how Ron Hand has been married for 56 years, I’ve been married for 54 years. One of their guys said his parents weren’t even born when I got married, which shows the difference in the age.

“We’re all good mates in our side and spend a lot of time together sitting and talking and having a game of bowls.

“It’s all about enjoyment, but now that we’ve got to the grand final, we want to win it and we’ll be trying our best.

“We’ve beaten South twice this season and have been the only team to do so, but if we don’t win on Saturday, well, we’re too old to get too upset about it.”

The South Bendigo side features former cricketers Luke Freeman, Dale Oddy and Cameron Carter, footballers Liam and Dylan Clohesy and Steve Humphrey, plus Andrew Frawley and Bill Stubbs.

Only Dylan Clohesy has previously played lawn bowls before this season.

Freeman says Saturday’s division nine grand final is the beginning of a nine-year plan for the team to rise up the ranks and eventually, win the 2024 division one premiership.

“Our time in cricket was getting near an end, but with our bowls careers, we’ve got another 50 years ahead of us,” Freeman said.

“We’ve got some quality in the side... Dylan and Dale have done a great job skippering and the rest of us chip in and do our bit.

“The boys have had a lot of fun this season, but this weekend is all business, getting the job done and starting our nine-year plan of winning every division upto division one.

“We’re taking it one division at a time, but we’ve got no doubt in nine years time we’ll be having our photo taken before the division one grand final.”