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FOR the third year in a row United and Emu Creek are the Emu Valley Cricket Association's grand finalists.
The Tigers and Emus will battle for the division one premiership at Strathfieldsaye's Club Court from 1pm on Saturday.
For Emu Creek it's an opportunity to win back-to-back premierships for the first time in the club's history after last year defeating the Tigers by 20 runs.
The previous year in 2020 their grand final clash never got a start when it was called off in the lead-up in the early days of the COVID pandemic, with United declared the winners having been the higher-ranked team.
As well as one flag against each other over the past two years, the two sides are also one apiece this season, with United winning by 38 runs in round two before Emu Creek prevailed by 39 runs in round 11.
Having finished second on the ladder, the Tigers - who have won 15 division one flags in their history - booked their grand final berth last week with a five-wicket semi-final win over Spring Gully.
"It's great we've got another opportunity after getting beaten in the grand final last year, so we obviously want to make the most of it," United captain Harry Whittle said.
"We know anything can happen in a grand final, but we'll be doing all we can to go for glory."
The Tigers have a potent batting line-up that includes five players who have plundered more than 300 runs - Alex Code (559), Whittle (359), Jayde Mullane (331), Broderick Williams (323) and Pat Hartney (308), with both Code (62.1) and Mullane (55.1) averaging more than 50.
And with the ball the Tigers have only conceded one score above 200 when Spring Gully made 6-214 in round nine.
The Emus have reached the grand final after finishing fourth on the ladder before knocking over top side Mandurang by 14 runs in their semi-final last week.
While the Emus have again had a high rotation of players through their side - they have used 29 in their division one squad - Saturday's team will feature six who were part of last year's flag: captain Simon Marwood, Tyrone Downie, Todd Brown, Luke Bennett, Alex Collins and Brent Downie.
The bulk of the Emus' runs this season have been scored by opener Brad Rowe (368), Marwood (349), former skipper Brown (323), Bennett (258) and Tyrone Downie (240).
As well as his impact with the bat Bennett has also been the Emus' standout with the ball with 17 wickets, with the bowling stocks having been given a boost late in the season with the inclusions of Cameron Moore and Phil Moore.
"We set out at the start of the year to get back to the grand final and give ourselves another chance, so it's great we've been able to do it," Marwood said.
"We've used nearly 30 players in the side over the year and around 70 over our three grades, so it has been a big effort to get here and we've had a lot of people play their part."
THE TEAMS:
UNITED
HARRY WHITTLE (C)
Runs: 359 Wkts: 16
Field: 5 Addy MVP: 739
...........................................
ALEX CODE
Runs: 559 Wkts: 4
Field: 11 Addy MVP 754
...........................................
BRODERICK WILLIAMS
Runs: 323 Wkts: 1
Field: 4 Addy MVP: 383
...........................................
DOOLEY NIEMANN
Runs: 205 Wkts: 3
Field: 3 Addy MVP: 295
...........................................
JAMES SMITH
Runs: 47 Wkts: 19
Field: 4 Addy MVP: 472
...........................................
JAYDE MULLANE
Runs: 331 Wkts: 0
Field: 3 Addy MVP: 361
...........................................
KANE GOLDSWORTHY
Runs: 50 Wkts: 16
Field: 5 Addy MVP: 425
...........................................
MAC WHITTLE
Runs: 67 Wkts: 10
Field: 5 Addy MVP: 322
...........................................
MITCH WHITTLE
Runs: 6 Wkts: 15
Field: 4 Addy MVP: 356
...........................................
PAT HARTNEY
Runs: 308 Wkts: 4
Field: 3 Addy MVP: 423
...........................................
TOM CALVERT
Runs: 206 Wkts: 0
Field: 16 Addy MVP: 396
EMU CREEK
SIMON MARWOOD (C)
Runs: 349 Wkts: 2
Field: 9 Addy MVP: 479
...........................................
ALEX COLLINS
Runs: 178 Wkts: 2
Field: 3 Addy MVP: 248
...........................................
BRAD ROWE
Runs: 368 Wkts: 0
Field: 2 Addy MVP: 388
...........................................
BRENT DOWNIE
Runs: 152 Wkts: 5
Field: 1 Addy MVP: 262
...........................................
CAMERON MOORE
Runs: 1 Wkts: 5
Field: 0 Addy MVP: 101
...........................................
JOSH MARTYN
Runs: 0 Wkts: 7
Field: 2 Addy MVP: 160
...........................................
LUKE BENNETT
Runs: 258 Wkts: 17
Field: 2 Addy MVP: 618
...........................................
PHIL MOORE
Runs: 7 Wkts: 5
Field: 5 Addy MVP: 167
...........................................
TODD BROWN
Runs: 323 Wkts: 6
Field: 2 Addy MVP: 463
...........................................
TREVOR PICKTHALL
Runs: 106 Wkts: 0
Field: 9 Addy MVP: 201
...........................................
TYRONE DOWNIE
Runs: 240 Wkts: 11
Field: 5 Addy MVP: 510
SELECTIONS:
Luke West - United.
Adam Bourke - United.
OTHER GRADES:
DIVISION 2 - United v Spring Gully at JG Edwards Oval.
DIVISION 3-1 - Bagshot v Strathfieldsaye at Mandurang.
DIVISION 3-2 - West Bendigo v United at Tannery Lane.
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