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GOLDEN Square football team-mates Jayden Burke and Braydon Welsh have become rival grand final captains as they prepare to lead their sides in Saturday's Upper Loddon Cricket Association premiership decider.
Burke will captain Bridgewater, while Welsh will skipper Kingower in the grand final at Newbridge from 1pm.
"There's always been a bit of banter between us at footy training each week... you have a look at the scores and let him know if he didn't get many that week, so it's good fun," Burke said this week.
"I'm sure we'll have a beer together afterwards no matter what the result is."
Kingower and Bridgewater both defeated higher-placed teams in last weekend's semi-finals.
The biggest upset was Bridgewater's victory over reigning premier Arnold.
Having only secured its finals berth with a last-round win over Inglewood, fourth-placed Bridgewater knocked over minor premier Arnold by six wickets and will hit the grand final with plenty of momentum.
Having sat sixth on the ladder after 11 rounds, the Bulls have lost just once in their past seven games, hitting their straps at the right time of the season.
"After Christmas it started to turn for us... we got Luke Harrison, Alex Collins and Oscar McKinley playing with us, which has been good," Burke said.
While Bridgewater has been at its best post-Christmas, Kingower has been consistent all season, finishing third on the ladder before making a mess of Newbridge with a 10-wicket semi-final demolition last week.
Saturday will be Kingower's fourth-consecutive grand final as it aims to atone for last year's defeat to Arnold.
"We've been fairly steady throughout the year and, hopefully, we can play some good cricket on Saturday," Welsh said.
Welsh's 595 runs for the season have been surpassed by only Arnold's Matt Giri (783), while Bridgewater boasts one of the competition's leading wicket-takers in Ben Hann with 23.
Last time the two sides met in a grand final Bridgewater (309 & 126) def Kingower (106 and 180) in a game where Burke made 133 and 41 for the Bulls.
That game was played under the traditional three-day, two innings ULCA grand final format, but with the competition reverting to purely one-day games this season, Saturday's 35-over-a-side decider will be done and dusted in just a few hours.
Kingower has won its three encounters against Bridgewater this season by 59 runs, 85 runs and 76 runs.
THE TEAMS:
KINGOWER
Braydon Welsh (c)
Runs: 595 Avr: 59.5
Highest score: 127*
Wickets: 9 Avr: 25.1
Best bowling: 2-14
.............................................
Lachlan DeJong
Runs: 21 Avr: 3.5
Highest score: 13
Wickets: 24 Avr: 12.5
Best bowling: 5-24
.............................................
Josh Essex
Runs: 20 Avr: 6.6
Highest score: 10*
.............................................
Tom Kairns
Runs: 39 Avr: 13.0
Highest score: 15
Wickets: 8 Avr: 11.5
Best bowling: 3-45
.............................................
Jayden Leach
Runs: 404 Avr: 40.4
Highest score: 79*
Wickets: 16 Avr: 19.4
Best bowling: 3-12
.............................................
Ben Rose
Runs: 98 Avr: 49.0
Highest score: 53
Wickets: 5 Avr: 18.8
Best bowling: 3-8
.............................................
Matthew Rowe
Runs: 295 Avr: 24.5
Highest score: 66
Wickets: 1 Avr: 81.0
Best bowling: 1-15
.............................................
David Rose
Runs: 87 Avr: 17.4
Highest score: 33*
.............................................
Kyle Simpson
Runs: 150 Avr: 15.6
Highest score: 32*
Wickets: 13 Avr: 25.9
Best bowling: 3-33
.............................................
Jake Thrum
Runs: 172 Avr: 43.0
Highest score: 54
Wickets: 10 Avr: 8.2
Best bowling: 5-12
.............................................
Brett Wilson
Runs: 2 Avr: 0.67
Highest score: 2
Wickets: 16 Avr: 14.6
Best bowling: 3-17
.............................................
Jordy Woodfield
Runs: 1 Avr: 1.0
Highest score: 1*
.............................................
BRIDGEWATER
Jayden Burke (c)
Runs: 84 Avr: 12.0
Highest score: 41
Wickets: 7 Avr: 17.8
Best bowling: 2-21
.............................................
Jay Bowen
Runs: 54 Avr: 7.7
Highest score: 26
Wickets: 16 Avr: 17.1
Best bowling: 3-24
.............................................
Alex Collins
Runs: 117 Avr: 29.9
Highest score: 69*
Wickets: 5 Avr: 27.4
Best bowling: 3-20
.............................................
Ben Hann
Runs: 34 Avr: 5.6
Highest score: 14
Wickets: 23 Avr: 7.4
Best bowling: 4-11
.............................................
Luke Harrison
Runs: 138 Avr: 19.7
Highest score: 56
.............................................
Harry McKinley
Runs: 95 Avr: 11.8
Highest score: 22
Wickets: 6 Avr: 22.0
Best bowling: 2-42
.............................................
Oscar McKinley
Runs: 127 Avr: 21.1
Highest score: 58*
Wickets: 0 Avr: -
Best bowling: 0-11
.............................................
Tom McKinley
Runs: 352 Avr: 32.0
Highest score: 57*
Wickets: 18 Avr: 10.6
Best bowling: 4-19
.............................................
Toby Naughton
Runs: 24 Avr: 24.0
Highest score: 11*
.............................................
Peter Rothacker
Runs: 158 Avr: 19.7
Highest score: 36*
Wickets: 13 Avr: 16.0
Best bowling: 3-22
.............................................
Brad Wickham
Runs: 99 Avr: 19.8
Highest score: 40
.............................................
Darcy Wood
Runs: 35 Avr: 7.0
Highest score: 15
Wickets: 4 Avr: 15.5
Best bowling: 2-20
Player statistics according to MyCricket.
PATH TO THE GRAND FINAL:
KINGOWER
RECORD - Won: 11 Lost: 5 Drawn: 1 Tied: 1
Runs per wicket for: 29.1
Runs per wicket against: 15.5
Round 1: 55 lt Inglewood 3-86
Round 2: 6-157 def Bridgewater 6-98
Round 3: 1-176 def Arnold 92
Round 4: drew Boort-Yando (washed out)
Round 5: 6-112 def Wedderburn 9-111
Round 6: 6-182 def Newbridge 5-151
Round 7: 7-108 lt Serpentine 9-146
Round 8: def Inglewood (forfeit)
Round 9: 2-152 def Bridgewater 67
Round 10: 7-158 lt Arnold 9-197
Round 11: 1-212 def Boort-Yando 108
Round 12: 7-102 lt Wedderburn 5-232
Round 13: 4-166 tied Newbridge 8-166
Round 14: def Serpentine (forfeit)
Round 15: 5-114 def Inglewood 8-97
Round 16: 3-205 def Bridgewater 129
Round 17: 7-120 lt Arnold 134
Semi-final: 0-79 def Newbridge 78
BRIDGEWATER
RECORD - Won: 9 Lost: 6 Drawn: 2 Tied: 1
Runs per wicket for: 15.9
Runs per wicket against: 15.0
Round 1: 114 lt Serpentine 122
Round 2: 6-98 lt Kingower 6-157
Round 3: 9-106 def Inglewood 9-82
Round 4: drew Arnold (washed out)
Round 5: 4-101 def Boort-Yando 9-92
Round 6: 1-132 def Wedderburn 100
Round 7: lt Newbridge (forfeit)
Round 8: def Serpentine (forfeit)
Round 9: 67 lt Kingower 2-152
Round 10: 119 tied Inglewood 9-119
Round 11: 107 lt Arnold 8-159
Round 12: 9-130 def Boort-Yando 65
Round 13: 126 def Wedderburn 124
Round 14: 2-39 drew Newbridge 0-0
Round 15: 6-144 def Serpentine 102
Round 16: 129 lt Kingower 3-205
Round 17: 7-138 def Inglewood 97
Semi-final: 4-174 def Arnold 169
HOW THE REST OF THE TEAMS FARED:
ARNOLD
Finished - 3rd
Lost semi-final to Bridgewater by 6 wickets
Record - 12-4-2
RUNS:
783 - Matt Giri
427 - Cameron Dale
415 - Phil Scholes
237 - Ryan Metelmann
WICKETS:
32 - Ryan Metelmann
13 - Cameron Dale
12 - Henry McCullough
12 - Michael Dale
NEWBRIDGE
Finished - 4th
lost semi-final to Kingower by 10 wickets
Record - 10-5-2-1
RUNS:
536 - Luke Cassells
462 - Tas Fitzallen
190 - Thomas Staniforth
165 - Tristan Fitzallen
WICKETS:
20 - Eathan Collins
17 - Tas Fitzallen
16 - Michael Rogers
15 - Tristan Fitzallen
INGLEWOOD
Finished - 5th
Record - 7-8-1-1
RUNS:
248 - Nathan Johns
213 - Rhys Roberts
165 - Robert Stranger
159 - Ben Power
WICKETS:
27 - Jack McHale
19 - Rhys Roberts
15 - David Smyth
12 - Robert Stranger
WEDDERBURN
Finished - 6th
Record - 6-9-2
RUNS:
283 - Steven Giorlando
17 - Owen Lockhart
215 - Chris Giorlando
187 - Will Holt
WICKETS:
22 - Steven Giorlando
15 - Chris Giorlando
11 - Adam Postle
9 - Will Holt
SERPENTINE
Finished - 7th
Record - 6-10-1
RUNS:
233 - Justin Laird
190 - Charlie Bellenger
126 - Harry Gadsden
122 - Jayden Baber
WICKETS:
8 - Denny Gladman
7 - Charlie Bellenger
7 - Justin Laird
7 - Harry Gadsden
BOORT-YANDO
Finished - 8th
Record - 1-15-1
RUNS:
229 - Ian McLean
161 - Will Perryman
152 - Drew Crilly
112 - Jono Lanyon
WICKETS:
19 - Drew Crilly
9 - Jono Lanyon
8 - Daniel Balzer
7 - Austin Malone
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