By David Nagel
THE top two qualifiers for the West Gippsland Premier Division cricket finals, Kooweerup and Cardinia, are already known. So are the third and fourth qualifiers, Tooradin and Pakenham.
So apart from some minor reshuffling who really cares what happens in round 14, which starts this Saturday.
The fact that fourth-placed Pakenham play host to top side Kooweerup and third-placed Tooradin welcome second-placed Cardinia adds some intrigue, a semi-final preview if you like, but the reality is that nothing that happens in the lead-up to the important stuff is going to make one ounce of difference, come finals time.
It’s sort of like taking your wife or girlfriend to a singles bar……it’s completely pointless.
The winning captains from this week will drum out the usual line that it has a psychological edge over its opponent; the losers will say they were trying different things to tune-up for the big dance. It’s just all so predictable, aaaarrrrgggghhhhhh…borrrrring!
Take the Pakenham and Kooweerup game for an example.
How boring is it going to be to watch the Lions’ Ben Maroney try and back up his ho-hum 196 from last week and add to his 605-run season or sit through another everyday 178 from Koowee’s Shane Dole like he did against the Yabbies last round.
If that’s not enough to put anyone to sleep, how about watching two sides that have made 1558-runs between them in the last two rounds slug it out. The Demons can’t have been trying too hard lately as their 645-runs pales into insignificance compared to the Lions OK 913 runs.
Lion Jason Williams and Demon Chris O’Hara will probably bat for long periods of time again, playing glorious strokes to all parts of Toomuc Reserve in an attempt to liven things up a bit, and there are a few other blokes who will try to entertain as well.
Michael Giles goes alright occasionally and will try and despatch a few over the pickets and his team mate Chris Bright will try and follow suit. Sugeesha Dinushan, Dom Paynter and Mick Torney will also break the monotony with the odd cracking drive or back-foot brilliance but in the end, who really cares.
There’ll probably be great line and length bowling from both sides and it might even be backed up by great fielding and glimpses of team harmony and intensity, which might come in handy in the coming weeks. Which reminds me.
We’ve got to go through this whole thing again in March when it actually means something.
TOORADIN v CARDINIA
TOORADIN play host to Cardinia in the other semi-final preview, and it’s the visiting Bulls who can gain the most from the contest.
Despite winning its latest match against Beaconsfield, the perennial finalists were unimpressive with the bat before surviving with a wet ball to prevail in a tight encounter. Regular run-getters in Mark Cooper, Neil Barfuss and Danny Diwell all performed below expectations and will be looking to bounce back while Ben Darose returns after missing a game against the Tigers on account of his child’s christening.
Barfuss won the match with the ball against Beaconsfield, and he along with Dwayne Doig and Craig Boswell will be trying to hone in the radar for the big games ahead.
Tooradin’s form has been red-hot in recent times, but it missed a golden opportunity for outright points against Officer last week to make this match really count for something. A top-two position would have been up for grabs and made this one a much more realistic finals preview.
The Seagulls are now a much better team than the one that was smashed by the Bulls in round one, and with the momentum it currently has, it wouldn’t expect a repeat of that 89-run score-line. Another serious failure like that could play mind games with the Gulls in the weeks ahead.
Tom Hussey has been outstanding for the Seagulls, notching his second ton for the season last round, and with eight scores of 40 or more is easily the most consistent player in the competition. It’s critical for the Seagull’s premiership hopes that he receives more support from skipper Aaron Avery and co.
None of the top four teams have lost a home game this season, so we’ll tip the Seagulls to continue that trend.
