Golden Point may be in the box seat of the Ballarat Cricket Association first grade grand final, but it will not rest on its laurels.
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The Pointies have secured first innings points and has a 55-run lead over Mt Clear, it will be hoping to extend that lead to around 70 as it completes the remaining three overs of its innings.
While pleased with the lead, captain Josh White said the Mounties tail did put-on more runs that he would’ve liked, with Mt Clear at certain stages of the day being 5-30 and 6-89 – eventually making 192.
“It’s good to come out with a first innings lead, obviously it doesn’t guarantee anything, we’ve still got to play some more cricket, but it’s certainly a good start,” White said.
“They got away a little later in the day, but we were certainly happy to keep them to 190.
“We had a couple of chances to keep them to a few less, but they probably had chances to keep us to less as well.”
The Golden Point boys are in the unique position of knowing it holds the upper hand in the biggest game of the year, but having a week to think about it.
But White said dealing with the excitement and expectation was not a problem, believing the group was switched on to the task.
The Pointies are undefeated this season and while it may not be the most headline-grabbing tactic, Golden Point is keeping things simple – as it has done all season.
“We fully realize that the game’s not over.
“Just talking about it, I think the guys are pretty switched on to the fact it’s not over and we need to play another two days of good cricket to make sure of it.
“We just need to bowl well and put the ball in the right spots, we won’t be changing our approach to the game, that’s for sure.”
For Mt Clear, it may be on the back foot, it has to think positively and play aggressively.
But it will be sweating on the fitness of star batsmen and wicket-keeper Matt Ward, who has a suspected broken finger.
He looks certain to push through the pain to play, but will he be at his best?
The Mounties will be hoping so, because he was the only batsmen in the top six that fired a shot over the weekend.
His 55 runs making up the majority of the 65 the top six compiled. Mt Clear simply must lift with the bat.
It will likely find itself trailing by 60-70 runs and a score of 250 would surely be a minimum to put some sort of pressure on Golden Point.
Adding to the equation is the Bureau of Meteorology's forecast of a 70% and 50% chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday, which would severely hurt Mt Clear’s bid.
SCORECARD
MT CLEAR 192 from 71.1 overs (M.Ward 55, D.Fletcher 47; A.Warrick 7-42, M.De Zoysa 2-21)
GOLDEN POINT 7-247 off 85 overs (S.Ogilvie 86, S.Harris 41; D.Thomson 3-58, N.Yates 2-64)
It’s good to come out with a first innings lead...(but) we need to play another two days of good cricket to make sure of it.
- Golden Point captain Josh White