Westbury and South Launceston will decide the Cricket North first-grade premiership in a three-day grand final starting at the NTCA No.1 Ground on Friday.
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The Shamrocks finished the season on top of the ladder and will start favourites but the Knights form has been good in the latter part of the season and they cannot be discounted in the flag decider.
Westbury lost last year’s grand final to Mowbray and captain Michael Lukic was keen to make amends for that loss.
“It should be a good match and we’ve always had good games against South – we’ve played them twice in grand finals and won one and lost one and they are a really competitive side,” Lukic said.
“It’s a challenge for us but I’m pretty confident in the group that we will put out there that we can get the job done but we have a tough three days ahead of us.
“Where you finish doesn’t matter – it’s an old clique we need 11 contributors for us to win and making sure that everyone puts their hand when they get the chance to bat and bowl and in the field.
“It’s good for our club because our seconds and thirds have also made grand finals so it is an exciting time for us.”
South Launceston captain Alec Smith said his side had not beaten Westbury so far this season but would love to rectify that record in the grand final.
“We need to continue on with our form from our last two matches where we’ve had really good games and were able to dig ourselves out of tough spots,” he said.
“We need to try to have a consistent three days and play well in every session.”
Smith conceded favouritism to the Shamrocks but said going in as underdogs did not faze him.
“Our bowlers have been really good in our last two games and our batting pretty solid as well but we probably need a bit of improvement in our batting.
“Westbury have been a really good team for a few years and have a couple of match-winners in their side and some really solid contributors so we won’t be taking them lightly at all.
“They beat us in the 2014-15 grand final so it would be nice to turn the tables – I can’t wait.”