THE connotations for the pointy end of Aurora Stadium’s Aussie 15s competition has rival captains reaching for their calculators.
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Not even the controversial Duckworth-Lewis method for washed out one-day internationals could rival the confusion heading into Wednesday night’s do-or-die encounters.
Alchemy All-Stars skipper Alex Saunders said his Riverside-aligned side won’t be satisfied with anything less than a grand final berth.
‘‘We won’t be just going for the win just for the sake of it,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ll be doing what we need to do to make sure we’re in the final.
‘‘I think because we played a late game, we’ll have a fair idea of what we need to do.’’
The All-Stars need to chase down a target in under 11 overs against Cock and Bull or defend tightly and win by around 40 runs – that is should Oak Royals defeat Sporties Legends in the earlier match.
Cock and Bull, on the other hand, need to win by at least 88 runs or bat less than 10 overs batting second.
Conventional wisdom suggests batting second and knowing the score is the easiest method to win.
But Saunders left little doubt his players would still rather defend an abbreviated game worth less than 15 overs.
‘‘We think bowling is more important than the batting,’’ he said.
‘‘Like last week when we kept them to 13 runs off the last three overs.
‘‘So we’ve got our bowling strength.
‘‘We’ll get as much as we can with our batting that we can possibly defend, so whatever we can get.’’
Saunders also believed the unconventional format – that includes 15 players in a side, free hits for wides and no balls and compulsory 15-ball retirements – changes the face of the game.
‘‘The game changes so fast now – obviously when you could get 12 runs off one ball changes the game a fair bit as well,’’ he said.
Sporties Legends have the most favoured path to a possible decider with an All Stars loss ensuring only a win will matter against the Oaks Royals in the twilight clash.