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RELATED – WEEKEND FINALS CRICKET TEAMS
UNDERDOGS it may seem this weekend, but Spring Gully goes into the Emu Valley Cricket Association grand final against Sedgwick having had the wood over the Rams in recent years.
The Crows haven’t lost to Sedgwick since the 2014-15 season, with their past four meetings three wins to Spring Gully and a heated out draw.
The two rivals, who finished first and second on the ladder, will lock horns for the premiership this weekend at Maiden Gully.
In their only meeting so far this season the Crows inflicted one of just two losses Sedgwick has suffered when they won their round four one-day encounter by 47 runs.
“Having beaten them this season and having had a fairly good record against them in recent years will give us some confidence going into this weekend,” Spring Gully captain Alex Sutton said this week.
“We’re not worried about the underdog status this week. We know they have a very talented side and it was well publicised during the off-season how well they had recruited and they have played well, so they deserve to go in as the favourites.
“But we’re happy with where we’re at going into the game.”
The Crows are striving for their first premiership since they won the second of back-to-back flags in 2010-11 against Mandurang when captained by Ben Jones.
The Crows lost their last grand final two years ago in 2015-16 when they were belted by United by 143 runs.
Sutton, Brannon Stanford, James Fox and Liam Pilcher were part of that losing grand final side two seasons ago who get another opportunity at a premiership.
“None of the boys in the team have played in a premiership for Spring Gully, so we’re certainly very hungry for it and have worked very hard to get into this position,” Sutton said.
“We’re certainly going to give it our best shot.”
The Spring Gully grand final line-up features three top-order batsmen who were named in the EVCA’s Team of the Year – Rhys Webb (618 runs), Lachlan Brook (438) and Joel Bish (424).
The trio have combined for 1480 runs and all have centuries this season, while all-rounder Webb was the winner of the EVCA’s WF Dreschler Trophy for most points and finished No.1 in the Addy’s MVP rankings.
“Those boys have batted well, but one of our strengths throughout the season has been our batsmen sharing the load where if someone misses out one week, we have other boys who can pick up the slack,” Sutton said.
“We saw that last week against Maiden Gully in the semi when we got 280-odd and had three guys (Webb, Stanford and Byron Perrin) all get scores above 50.
“And it has been the same with our bowling where we’ve had a good spread.”
The Crows had seven players take wickets against Maiden Gully last weekend.
James Fox has led the Crows’ attack this season with 20 wickets, while one of the game’s X-factors with the ball shapes as Byron Perrin.
Perrin – a Bendigo United premiership player in the BDCA – has spent the bulk of the season in the Crows’ division two side winning the league’s Player of the Year award and could shape as a handful for the Rams with his movement.
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SEASON RESULTS:
Rd 1: 4-182 def Marong 9-170
Rd 2: 9-265 def West Bendigo 150
Rd 3: 7-243 def Maiden Gully 7-171
Rd 4: 4-166 def Sedgwick 119
Rd 5: 313 def Golden Gully 122
Rd 6: 139 & 5-216 def Marong 104
Rd 7: 5-366 drew West Bendigo 2-42
Rd 8: 158 lt United 4-218
Rd 9: 139 lt Mandurang 7-189
Rd 10: 0-0 dr Golden Gully 0-0 (heated out)
Rd 11: 239 dr Sedgwick 0-0
Rd 12: 272 def Mandurang 243
Rd 13: 224 dr United 8-142
Rd 14: 120 lt Maiden Gully 168 & 3-71
SF: 285 def Maiden Gully 187
………………………………
TEAM RECORD:
Won: 8 Lost: 3 Drawn: 4
Batting points: 33.27
Bowling points: 22.00
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PLAYER STATS
ALEX SUTTON (c)
Runs: 275 Avr: 25.0
Wkts: 9 Avr: 32.0
Fielding: 0
Rank points: 455
………………………………
JOEL BISH
Runs: 424 Avr: 32.6
Wkts: 3 Avr: 10.3
Fielding: 4
Rank points: 524
………………………………
LACHLAN BROOK
Runs: 438 Avr: 31.2
Wkts: 3 Avr: 21.0
Fielding: 13
Rank points: 638
………………………………
JAMES FOX
Runs: 147 Avr: 14.7
Wkts: 20 Avr: 21.4
Fielding: 6
Rank points: 607
………………………………
JESSE MARCIANO
Runs: 292 Avr: 22.4
Wkts: 15 Avr: 18.2
Fielding: 8
Rank points: 672
………………………………
RYAN PEDROTTI
Runs: 150 Avr: 30.0
Fielding: 6
Rank points: 215
………………………………
BYRON PERRIN
Runs: 154 Avr: 51.3
Wkts: 9 Avr: 15.6
Fielding: 1
Rank points: 344
………………………………
LIAM PILCHER
Runs: 113 Avr: 18.8
Wkts: 13 Avr: 20.6
Fielding: 8
Rank points: 453
………………………………
NICK SKEEN
Runs: 34 Avr: 11.3
Wkts: 16 Avr: 19.8
Fielding: 3
Rank points: 384
………………………………
BRANNON STANFORD
Runs: 324 Avr: 27.0
Fielding: 7
Rank points: 399
………………………………
RHYS WEBB
Runs: 618 Avr: 47.5
Wkts: 13 Avr: 12.3
Fielding: 13
Rank points: 1008
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- RANK POINTS – 1 run = 1 point; 1 wicket = 20 points; 1 catch = 10 points; 1 run out/stumping = 15 points.
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SELECTION – The Rams have carried the tag as the team to beat all season and look to have too much depth in their batting line-up for the Crows to be able to finally end a 99-year premiership drought.