IRYMPLE captain Mark Thomson is confident his team can upset defending premiers Mildura Settlers in this weekend’s Sunraysia cricket First Division semi-final clash.
Thomson said the team had already achieved their “benchmark” of making the finals – and “anything can happen after that”.
“We’ve been in a few semi-finals in a row so the boys are pretty keen to get a win after losing the last couple,” he said.
“We just need to treat this weekend’s semi like any other week. We’ve been successful during the home-and-away season so we want to stick to what we’ve been doing well.”
Irymple have been at the pointy end of the ladder for most of the season. However, they slipped back to fourth after the final round as Setts charged into top spot, giving them the right to host today’s semi-final.
Thomson expects two of his side’s stars to shine against the formidable Setts line-up.
“Our No.3 batsman, Nick Giofre, has been batting well this year and hopefully he’ll be able to hold our innings together,” he said.
“And Chase Stone with the new ball will be key for us. They have a class batting line-up so getting early wickets will be important for us.”
Setts skipper Braidyn Turner said his team was brimming with confidence heading into the finals as they aim for four straight top-grade premiership wins.
“We’re up and about after the last month we’ve had,” he said.
“We were written off, but the boys have shown their class and we’re feeling really confident about how we’ll perform in the finals.”
Turner said his troops weren’t focused on more grand final glory at this stage.
“It’s a cliché but we’re taking it one game at a time,” he said.
“We’ll be focused on doing our job on Saturday, then come back out on Sunday to do it again.
“We’re not taking Irymple lightly. They were on top of the ladder last month when we were fifth, and they were there for a reason.
“They have a really good bowling unit, but we have a game plan that will hopefully nullify that and we’ll get the win.”
Turner has made another bold prediction about one of his players being on the verge of hitting top form again.
On the eve of Setts’ final-round clash with Mildura West, he forecast that veteran wicketkeeper/batsman Andrew Petrie would regain form with the bat after a lean trot this season.
Petrie duly went out in Setts’ first dig and hit an unbeaten century.
Sunraysia Daily couldn’t help but ask Turner again this week to look into the crystal ball and make another call on who’s next to step up for his First XI?
“I really think Luke Stanbrook is ready for a big hundred,” he said.
“He came out last week (in Setts’ second innings against Gol Gol) as an opener, after usually batting at four, and looked really good (hitting 26 not out off 18 balls) as we chased quick runs.”
Turner also had the last word on the banter earlier this week between good mates Petrie and former Australia A quick Mark Cleary over a pre-game joke that came off against West last Saturday.
Petrie said it’d be great if there could be a “stumped Petrie, bowled Cleary” – and it happened early in the day’s play.
The 40-year-old keeper thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, but 41-year-old Cleary felt it “damaged my reputation” as a former first-class fast bowler.
Turner settled the matter this week.
“Cleary had already damaged his reputation by coming off three steps (with his bowling run-up),” he said with a laugh.
