MERBEIN captain Mark East believes his side can give the Sunraysia Cricket Association finals a shake this season.
Currently seventh with two wins, the Magpies are still only two wins adrift of the top four and with an outstanding victory over former ladder leaders Nichols Point under their belt, they have a newfound confidence.
With one-day games against Mildura Settlers on Saturday at Kenny Park and Irymple on Sunday at Chaffey Park – the SCA double headers allowing for an Australia Day weekend bye – East believes his team has the capability to push further up the table.
“I think we got confidence and momentum out of it,” he said of last week’s win over Point.
“We knew we could match it with the top teams but in the first half of the season we just didn’t take enough of our chances.
“I think we’ve been bowling and fielding really well but we had let ourselves down on the batting front, so last week we really focused on building those partnerships and it worked really well.
“We left ourselves with enough wickets in hand to go after it late and managed to get there.”
A first-up contest against bottom-of-the-table Settlers looms as the most winnable game of the weekend for the Magpies, but East is wary not to underestimate the visitors.
“It’s the old cliche but we’ll take it one game at a time,” he said.
“We obviously have Setts first up who are fielding a different side compared to last time we played them, but we’ll also have a few players back from the break as well.
“We have to be wary of what they can produce so we’ll take it one step at a time.”
While veterans like Tony and Shane Trinick and English import Ben Green have led the charge for Merbein this season, their mantra to continue to blood the players of the future has been strong.
Angus Smith has made an impressive start to his first division career, while twins Riley and Cody Clifford have shown plenty of improvement.
“The boys have been getting to work and training the right way and you can see the results of that,” East said.
“The Clifford boys have been putting in the effort and are really coming along nicely, and Angus has always had talent, it’s just about him harnessing it.
“We’ve been competitive before Christmas and now it’s about taking our chances in the second half of the year. We’re going to give the finals places a shake, I see no reason why we can’t do that.”
