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IT will go down in the Bendigo District Cricket Association history books as the grand final that never was.
Strathdale-Maristians vs Huntly-North Epsom at the QEO in the 2019-20 grand final had all the makings of being a belter given their status as the clear-cut standout sides of the season and their separation by just one point on the ladder.
Instead, while the Suns have been awarded the premiership, the grand final will always have the "what if" question mark attached to it given not a ball will be bowled after being called off earlier this week by the BDCA following recommendations from Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria to abandon all cricket in response to the global coronavirus pandemic crisis.
It's the first time since 1923-24 when Bendigo United forfeited to South Bendigo Rex that there won't be a ball bowled in a BDCA first XI grand final.
So given there is no climax to the season and we won't get to see the two competition heavyweights slug it out over two days, just what are we missing out on?
Firstly, it would have been a stoush between the competition's No.1 ranked batting side (Strathdale) and No.1 bowling team (Huntly-North Epsom).
Think of Strathdale-Maristians and the first thought that springs to mind is their envious batting depth.
What a luxury to have Sam Johnston - who would have come up against his former team - batting at No.8 and Ryan Haythorpe at No.11.
Up until his duck last weekend, Haythorpe had the competition's best batting average of 85.0 before being cut in half.
Still, to have your No.11 end the season with a batting average of 42.5 shows that when a Suns' innings may be on the brink of collapse - like last week when they were 3-4 in their semi-final against White Hills - just how difficult it is to land the knockout blow.
From 3-4 against the Demons, the Suns still found a way to post 173.
While it proved a winning score, that 173 was very much a moderate effort compared to the Suns' season as a whole where they have averaged 329 runs per 10 wickets.
Cameron Taylor (three), recruit Grant Waldron (one), Jack Neylon (one) and skipper Ben DeAraugo (one), who would have batted in the top five, have all notched centuries for the Suns.
Not that the Power would have been daunted by the the calibre of the Suns' talent-laden top order.
You've only got to reflect back 12 months to when all the talk leading into the Power's grand final clash with Golden Square was of the Bulldogs' batting power led by skipper Ben Gunn, Tim Wood, Scott Woodman and Ryan Hartley.
Remember what happened that game - the Power's Mitch Whittle produced a grand final spell for the ages, at one stage having 5-0 as the shellshocked Bulldogs were left reeling at 5-11.
The Power had a premiership winning bowling attack last year, but it has been taken to another level this season with the addition of left-armer Lewis Stabler.
Talk about peaking at the right time of the season - Stabler would have gone into this weekend's grand final off the back of 13 wickets in his past two games.
There was his 7-61 against White Hills in round 13 followed by 6-21 against Strathfieldsaye in last weekend's semi-final rout when he took the first six wickets.
It's a shame we won't get to see Stabler bowling on one day and Strathdale-Maristians' speedster Chris Sole on the other.
Stabler (40 wickets) and all-rounder Adam Ward (29) have formed a dynamic opening bowling duo for the Power, who only twice have conceded scores of 200 - one of which was when the Suns plundered 9-308 and won by 100 runs in round four.
The Suns also had the measure of the Power in the Keck-Findlay Shield one-day final by six wickets earlier this month.
It's disappointing we won't get to see the Power's Daunshka Wijemanna showcase his wares on the big stage again.
While the Suns' Cameron Taylor has owned the majority of batting headlines this season, Wijemanna, too, has put together a fine summer.
The Sri Lankan would have gone into the grand final averaging above 50 (53.0) and with 689 runs, including 77 under pressure in the Keck-Findlay Shield final against the Suns.
Wijemanna is a class act and showed that in last year's grand final with his unbeaten 89 that accompanied opener Ryan Grundy's 100 n.o. that earned him the Taylor Walsh Medal.
Speaking of the Taylor Walsh Medal, would Suns' skipper Ben DeAraugo produced another grand final special.
DeAraugo is built for the biggest of stages - four Taylor Walsh medals says it all - and given he was coming off scores of 51 and 178 n.o. in his past two hits after coming in under extreme heat both times, his form with the bat was certainly ominous.
And could the cancellation of the game also cost the Suns' Taylor a place in BDCA history as the first player to 1000 runs in a season, or at the least, taken the competition's runs record from Kangaroo Flat's Tony Taig.
Taylor - who has to be the hottest of favourites to win the BDCA Cricketer of the Year for a fourth time, whenever that will be - has 945 runs in total, including home and away, semi-final and one-day final knocks.
So Taig's season record of 962 runs (including finals) set in 2003-04 still stands.
However, according to BDCA historian Darren Rodda, the 906 runs Taylor made in the home and away season is a new association home and away record, so in that regard the left-handed opener has written his name into the history books.
It's incredibly disappointing after months of hard work from all teams due to compete in senior and junior grand finals that the BDCA's showcase weekend won't go ahead.
But as both first XI captains - the Suns' DeAraugo and Power's Elliott Massina - alluded to earlier in the week, community health and wellbeing is the priority over a game of cricket.
So who would have won? I reckon the Suns... just.
Might see though what the XBox has to say about it - the two teams are created on Cricket 19 and ready to slug it out in an MCG Test.
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