A MAKE or break contest against old rivals Mildura West will determine if Mildura East can maintain their finals ambitions.
East’s hopes of making the top four remained afloat following a four-wicket win over fifth-place Coomealla Wentworth last week, leaving them just two victories behind West in fourth.
With three rounds remaining however a lot will need to go right for them with Nichols Point and Mildura Settlers to come in the final two rounds.
East co-coach Josh Berry said his side had been eyeing off a “scalp” across the season and were able to get one to keep their finals hopes alive.
“We had been trying to take one of those scalps of a team around the top four and we rate Coomy Wentworth pretty highly so it was a nice result,” he said.
“West is obviously the arch rival and it’s a contest you always look for in the draw at the start of the year. They’re sitting in fourth at the moment and we’d obviously love to get there, it’s just a matter of us keeping that consistency in our game.
“I think our bowling has been pretty good all season bar the Nichols Point one-day game, I think we’ve either bowled out or been close to bowling out most teams.
“Our batting had definitely been hot and cold but it’s nice that we’ve got guys right down to number eight who have started to add a few more runs to the total.”
Just two East batters failed to reach double figures against the Blues, with English import Josh Bowyer top scoring with 65 and Brad Thomas adding 47.
Bowyer, 19, began the season as an attacking opener, however a shift to the middle order could unlock some more runs.
“Josh had been playing pretty well but when you’re an overseas player you tend to put a lot of pressure on yourself to perform,” Berry said.
“Brad (Thomas) and I had discussions of potentially moving him down the order just to take some of the pressure off. Obviously the ball is a bit older and he likes to take the attack to the bowler so we think long term having him bat at five or six could be our best bet.
“It was good to get guys like Blake Meyers, Connor Robinson and Andrew Ross getting among runs down the order, too.”
Berry also believes former Innes Medal winner Thomas can get back to his best form in the final three rounds.
“He was clearly disappointed and frustrated at the lack of runs before Christmas but I think he’s into a pretty good rhythm now and I get the feeling he’ll make some decent scores over the last three rounds,” he said.
SCA legend Tom Vadlja had a day out with the ball against the Blues with 5/20 off 21 overs with 10 maidens.
Berry said the veteran will still play an important role for the side, however they are conscious not to over burden him.
“Tom is obviously one of the greats locally but at the same time we don’t want to lump the major workload on to him, we just want to allow him to play with freedom in that middle order and bowling his off spin,” Berry said.
Mildura West and Mildura East face off at John Hall Oval from 1pm.
