North Geelong and East Belmont have been the best two sides in the Geelong Cricket Association for several seasons and meet again in a grand final at South Barwon Reserve this weekend.
The Magpies are aiming for five straight premierships and after putting Newtown & Chilwell to the sword in the semi-final, are slight favourites going into the clash.
North skipper Tom Mathieson said East Belmont possesses a swag of talented players.
“They’re a very balanced side at the moment,” he said.
“They’re coming in with some good form, some individuals who are coming in red hot with the ball and bat. We know what we’re going to get from them. They’ve obviously got some really key wickets at the top.
“With Shane (McNamara) and Sean (O’Neill) and then from there, (Josh) Lacey’s had an awesome year as well and their middle order’s pretty strong. It’s probably two even sides that bat deep and both bowl very consistently.”
North Geelong’s semi-final form was outstanding, making 290 and bowling the Two Blues out for 77.
“Everyone had a good hit, got off to some starts, which obviously this week hopefully we’ll go on to get some big scores,” Mathieson said.
“And then same with the bowlers knowing that we could bowl a side out on a good wicket fairly convincingly.”
North Geelong needs only to draw the game to win the premiership and East Belmont skipper Shane McNamara said his side “might have to make the play a little bit”.
“I think the last month our cricket’s been pretty good so there’s a little bit of confidence there for the guys,” he said.
If North Geelong was impressive on semi-final weekend, the Lions were just as good.
The game against Grovedale didn’t even need to go into a second day.
The Lions’ attack is spearheaded by Brendan Klein-Boonschate and Jack Jenkins, who took nine of the 10 wickets to fall.
This will be the fourth grand final in a row between the two sides.
“They’ve (North Geelong) been pretty good across the board and they continually put scores on the board,” McNamara said.
“On the weekend they’ve scored 290 and everyone contributed. And then they have Dale (Kerr) and Tom (Mathieson) at the top to make a good fast bowling combination. They have some good support around them as well, so that’s why they’ve been the top of the pack the last few years.”
The game is at Reynolds Oval, South Barwon from 11.30am on Saturday March 23 and Sunday March 24.
GCA 1sts
North Geelong vs East Belmont at South Barwon Reserve
GCA 2nds
St Peters vs Torquay at Leopold Memorial Park
GCA 3rds
Geelong West vs St Peters at Herne Hill Reserve
GCA 4ths (one-day fixture 12.30pm)
Lethbridge vs Waurn Ponds Deakin at Grinter Reserve, Newcomb
