It appears Golden Point and Mt Clear will field unchanged line-ups for the Ballarat Cricket Association first grade grand final.
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Pointies captain Josh White said it was likely the same 11 players would start in the decider to the ones that produced a strong semi-final performance to beat North Ballarat at the weekend.
“I think so, yeah. We should be unchanged,” White told The Courier on Tuesday.
A century from Manjula De Zoysa helped the Pointies reach 6-302 before they skittled the Roosters for just 125 to claim a convincing semi-final win.
This result continued the side’s unbeaten campaign.
White said his team had to go into the game against Mt Clear confident of success.
“We had a good game against them (earlier in the season), both teams made good scores, so we know it’s going to be a tough game,” he said.
Mounties skipper Darcy Thomson said he would be hard-pressed to make a change after the team’s fighting win over Wendouree.
“Unless there’s an injury there won’t be a change,” Thomson said.
Thomson admitted he was concerned with his side’s position when the Red Caps were seemingly cruising to victory at 2-176 in pursuit of Mt Clear’s 9-274.
But a flurry of wickets changed the match, with the Mounties eventually getting home by 23 runs.
Thomson said he was really confident heading into the four-day grand final against Golden Point.
“They deserved to finish on top of the ladder. They’ve been playing good cricket,” he said.
“We’ve been a little bit up and down during the season and we are hitting our straps at the right time now.”
Golden Point and Mt Clear have met just once this season, with the Pointies’ first innings total of 7-299 just too many for the Mounties, which could only reach 279 in reply.
The grand final will be played across the next two weekends at Wendouree’s C E Brown Reserve.
On Wednesday night, the BCA’s presentation evening will be held at the Ballarat Golf Club.
Highlights of the evening will be the EJ Cleary Medal and Bernie Davey Medal counts.