Coomie cling to finals hope

SCA IN FOCUS – Round 14

THE best batting team and the best bowling team will go head-to-head this weekend in the Sunraysia Cricket Association, in a game that could potentially shape finals.

Looking at the standings, you’d think not much would change with just one round to play.

However, there remains a slim possibility for Coomealla Wentworth, who with a win over Gol Gol could sneak a fourth place finish if Mildura East lose to Mildura Settlers.

Although Gol Gol’s Shacaya Thomas is the competition’s leading wicket taker, with 27 at an average of 14.44, Coomealla Wentworth have four inside the top 20.

Based on statistics, Liam Freeman has been the third best player with the ball this season, his 25 wickets taken at an average of 16.04.

While his team’s performance with the bat has been lacklustre so far, Freeman hoped the team would ignore their past performances with their season on the line.

“With the ball, we’ve been pretty strong all year,” he said.

“It would have been nice to bowl some teams out a bit more but ultimately we’ve been there most weeks, just need to tidy up our batting a little bit.”

With just one loss for the season, Gol Gol have cemented first position.

However, this week will be slightly different for them, given their match against Nichols Point in the SCA Twenty20 final on Thursday night.

“I don’t think that’ll affect them too much,” Freeman said.

“They’re a pretty classy unit so they’ll just come out and play the way they do and we’ve just got to match that with how we play and go one better than them.”

While a win for East would quash Coomealla Wentworth’s finals aspirations, their opponent, Settlers, will be no walkover.

Settlers have been the competition’s most unpredictable team this season, and although they got smashed last weekend, it wasn’t too long ago they found form and won four games in a row.

“Never say never, we’re going to give it our all and give ourselves a chance,” Freeman said.

Coomealla Wentworth and Gol Gol meet for the final round of SCA action this Saturday at McLeod Oval.

The first week of action is scheduled to begin at 1pm.