EVCA TWENTY20: Title up for grabs as Tigers, Crows face off in grand final

The Crows and Tigers will clash in the EVCA grand final at Ewing Park from 6.30pm.

Spring Gully has had two previous cracks at winning the Twenty20 title, but fallen short both times in losing grand finals against Maiden Gully in 2019 and United in 2020.

While there's the Twenty20 flag hinging on the outcome of the game, Spring Gully captain Lachlan Brook says there will be no change to the attitude the Crows have played with throughout the tournament - first and foremost, have fun.

"We lost the grand final to United a couple of years ago and that's still in the back of our minds so, hopefully, we can pay them back this time," Brook said on Monday.

"We've had a lot of fun in the Twenty20 tournament, which is what our approach has been all the way through and it has got us into the grand final and, hopefully, it carries on."

The Crows head into Tuesday night's Twenty20 grand final having won all four of their games, including an eight-run victory over reigning premier Sedgwick in last week's semi-final.

Brook leads the Crows' Twenty20 runs with 145, followed by Jake Donegan (105) and Rhys Webb (93).

Bendigo United batsman Harry Donegan will be the Crows' marquee player.

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United will be striving to go one better than last season when it lost the Twenty20 grand final to Sedgwick by seven runs.

The Tigers - captained by Alex Code - have a 4-1 record in the competition this season and beat West Bendigo by three wickets in their semi-final last week to win their way into the decider.

"Tuesday night means a lot to us after last year's loss, so we're really keen to play well," Code said.

"There has always been a good rivalry between United and Spring Gully, so we'll be expecting another good contest.

"We've had a strong squad throughout the competition and our next job will be to pick a team that will match up well against Spring Gully."

Gun all-rounder Harry Whittle will be available to return to the Tigers' line-up, while Golden Square captain Liam Smith is expected to be the United marquee player.

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The Tigers have also had Strathdale-Maristians' Jack Neylon play as a marquee player this season.

United has two of the competition's top-five run-scorers in Dooley Niemann, whose 145 runs include a knock of 108 against Mandurang last month, and Whittle (140).

Both United and Spring Gully tuned up for Tuesday night's grand final with wins in Saturday's round 12 of the EVCA season-proper.

SPRING GULLY (4-0)

1-137 def California Gully 9-134.

7-179 def West Bendigo 9-107.

5-139 def Axe Creek 8-82.

Semi - 6-167 def Sedgwick 6-159.

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UNITED (4-1)

2-112 def Marong 109.

5-119 def Emu Creek 117.

3-187 def Mandurang 8-185.

8-173 lt Sedgwick 3-175.

Semi - 7-124 def West Bendigo 121.

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