TYRON BRAMWELL
CRICKET
TDCA FINALS PREVIEW
By TYRON BRAMWELL
FINALS get underway this week in the Traralgon District Cricket Association.
Every club has a least one team in this week’s finals round.
Elimination and qualifying finals will be played in A Grade, and semi-finals for B and C Grade.
Finals for A Grade will run a little different this season, with first versus second and third versus fourth, with the winner of first/second going straight into the grand final, and the loser
playing the winner of the third/fourth elimination final.
A Grade qualifying final, Ex Students v Glengarry
THIS will be a very fiery match, as the winner of this goes straight through to the grand final in two weeks’ time.
So, for one team, this will be a semi-final for them.
However, the loser of this clash at Traralgon Recreation Reserve will get a lifeline and play
again next week.
Glengarry are in incredible form, posting 199, 222 and 258 in their last three matches, while not losing more than five wickets.
Three of the top five scoring TDCA players are from Glengarry, in Al Jenkin, Nat Freitag and
Frank Marks.
Conversely, Ex Students has three of the top six leading wickettakers in the league in Michael
Warne, Andy Matthews and Jimmy Pryde.
There is no doubt Ex Students will not go down without a fight and will want to cement their spot in the grand final and have an extra week to rest up.
One to watch: Al Jenkin is in sublime form at the moment, not scoring under 50 the last four matches, including a century.
Prediction: This could go either way, as they have both beaten each other this season and sit 1-1. But Glengarry will continue their great form and cement their spot in the grand final.
A Grade elimination final, Toongabbie v Yarram & District
YARRAM, thanks to the luck of the rain, wriggled their way into position on the ladder.
Both Yarram and Toongabbie have not had high scoring games their last few rounds, however, Yarram is one team that can definitely make a big score.
Scoring 200 plus in a final will be a great total and should be enough to knock off Toongabbie who are hurting from last round, going down to Rovers thanks to Duckworth-Lewis.
The Rams will definitely be feeling disappointed, but will be raring to go to take home the win
against Yarram.
For Yarram, the likes of Ant Scott, one of the great all-rounders the league has, will be keen to lead his team in their first run of finals, and hopefully lead them to a grand final.
Toongabbie are going to have to bat better than they have been and bowl tight in order to restrict Yarram as best they can.
One to watch: Ant Scott is back bowling after some time off due to injury so he will be itching to take plenty of wickets and score many runs.
Prediction: Yarram will come out soaring and beat Toongabbie.
B GRADE
Yarram & District v Gormandale
YARRAM, coming off a win, will be eager to keep their streak going and knock over Gormandale in the semi-final.
Gormandale coming off a loss, will be hurting but will be no doubt fired up and want to prove
what they have.
The Pelicans B Grade is a formidable team, so Gormandale will have to leave everything out
there on the field if they want to have a chance at beating the top side.
Yarram are a great all-round team that bat right until the end, and have a selection of bowlers to choose from such as David Coulthard and Ashley Taylor. Gormandale has one of the best B Grade all-rounders this season in Brenden Peavey being in the top six for both batting and bowling across the TDCA.
One to watch: Brendan Peavey will look to keep his good form going and lead Gormandale to a final.
Prediction: Yarram & District will prove too strong with their all-round team and will knock over Gormandale.
Rovers v Ex Students
THIS will be the match to watch, as two strong teams, both in good form, go head-to-head.
Rovers made light work of their last two games as did Ex Students, so both teams are coming into finals in red hot form.
Alex Rathbone with the bat and Ricky Martin with ball in hand are both in great touch coming
into finals.
Martin has taken more wickets than any other B Grade TDCA player this season, and will be a
handful for Ex Students, as well as Greg Bramwell, being one of the best TDCA off-spinners around.
Bramwell and Martin have the ability to tie teams down and take seven wickets between them for no more than 40 runs in their 18 over partnership together, which is unmatched by any bowling pair.
For the Sharks, Rathbone, Shannon Grass and Stefan Sbaglia are all capable of getting big scores while off-spinner Daniel Trease and medium pace bowler Daniel Churchill are proven performers and will be sure to make it hard for Rovers to score. Ex Students also have leading run scorer Adam Jaensch in their side, who could prove the difference.
One to watch: Ricky Martin with ball in hand will be a handful for the Ex Students batting line-up.
Prediction: Rovers will come out firing and take home the win.
C GRADE
Ex Students v Toongabbie
EX Students, finishing top of the table, will be firing having only lost one game this season, as
opposed to Toongabbie who have lost seven.
Paul Richards leads the runs for Ex Students C Grade and will want to keep scoring runs and lead Ex Students to another grand final appearance.
Toongabbie will not go down without a fight and with leading wickettaker Jack Wall at their
disposal, an upset might be on the cards.
One to watch: Paul Richards with bat in hand is one to keep a close eye on.
Prediction: Ex Students will prove too strong for Toongabbie.
Yarram & District v Imperials
YARRAM is in sensational form, having lost a game since round five and bowling Glengarry out
for only 14 last round.
One player from Yarram that has shocked the whole TDCA is AFL star Josh Dunkley, who has
scored the third most runs for the TDCA in C Grade, and has an average unmatched by any
player – 94.
Close behind him is Imperials’ Jonathon Downs, who is just nine runs short.
Daniel Morris from Imperials, with ball in hand will be a handful, but equally will Mathew Earles
from Yarram.
This match has the makings of one that is going to be a remarkably close and competitive game.
One to watch: Josh Dunkley with bat in hand, who is averaging 94.
Prediction: Yarram will have all the answers.
