The Cricket Shepparton Higher-grade T20 final is here as Haisman Shield juggernaut Central Park-St Brendan’s takes on Numurkah at Deakin Reserve on Thursday evening.
The tournament has taken place across three rounds, with the Tigers defeating Waaia by 23 finals in the semi-final.
Meanwhile, Numurkah beat Kyabram by 19 runs after posting a mammoth score of 6-193 in the second semi.
In Numurkah’s final, the Blues were led with the bat by Ben Beaumont (42 runs off 27 balls) and James Du Toit (47 off 24), who smoked eight sixes between them.
Central Park will be hoping bowler Dwain Vidler, six wickets across two Higher-grade games, and Rhiley Lau, 70 not out from 25 balls (including six sixes) in the first match, can help guide the Tigers home on Thursday.
Despite losing the A and B-grade one-day grand finals, Tigers captain Tyler Larkin isn’t too fazed about their ability to win big matches as he backs his side in for victory.
“Just to be making it there (to a grand final) is an achievement in itself,” Larkin said.
“If people want to call it a hoodoo, that’s fine, but we have been a team that’s made it over the last few years. So we will go into the match knowing we deserve to be here and, hopefully, we can get a win.
“Our opening combination in Rhiley and Jack (McCarten) have been really explosive up top and got us off to some really good starts, so hopefully, we can just replicate that and put a good score on the board.”
While Larkin believes winning the Higher-grade T20 competition would be a good achievement, the top-order batter said the Tigers would focus more on their upcoming Haisman Shield match on Saturday.
“To be honest, it’s a good thing to be playing in a final and it’s a good experience for some of the kids we are going to have playing,” he said.
“But until the competition is played for premiership points, it’s definitely not going to carry as much weight as, for example, on the weekend, we need to win to make it into the Haisman Shield finals, which all clubs want to play in.
“It’s definitely a good achievement and something we will enjoy if we do win. However, in terms of the importance of it, until it’s actually meaningful towards the whole season, it’s probably not going to carry the same weight.”
The Higher-grade final will take place on Thursday at Deakin Reserve at 5.30pm.
Meanwhile, in the Lower-grade final Old Students will host Karramomus at Kialla Park Reserve also on Thursday at 5.30pm.