Westbury is on the brink of a momentous title win after holding on to a 38-year wait.
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The club’s last piece of silverware for the 50-over format dates all the way to a three-wicket triumph over South Launceston back on February 9, 1981 in the statewide Kookaburra Cup final.
“When you just sit back and think about it, and I have been there 45 years now, but I didn’t realise it’s been that long,” Shamrocks president Michael Claxton said.
“All the senior blokes as they get older, they cherish this chance of winning and Richard Howe spoke about the occasion after the game.
“Losing the last two grand finals, you don’t want to be known as a really good side, that just seems to not choke, but not get over the line.”
Westbury had sealed their spot in the Greater Northern Cup final by six wickets over reigning champions Burnie.
Only Ulverstone stand in the way of breaking the drought on Sunday after upsetting South Launceston in the other semi-final.
Claxton said the club has no plans to start popping champagne corks too early.
“It’s been very elusive for us,” he said. “We’ve played in a few semi-finals, gone in as favourites and have lost.”
Westbury can again recall Greater Northern Raiders teammates Jake Williams, Alex Kerrison and Ollie Wood after being released to play in the semi-final win.
Howe’s side will need the trio to claim the 11-team competition that he rates tougher than Cricket North’s two-day crown.
“You only got to drop a couple of games and you don’t realise how close things are when there’s 11 teams floating about,” Howe said.
The 30-year-old would be a deserving winning captain.
He first turned up to play at Westbury amid a 300km round trip from Scamander for a game in the thirds.
“I know I have been there for about 15 years and we’ve never looked like it,” he said.
Howe said winning it was something talked about at the start of the summer.
“We spoke at the start of the season about this and a few of us guys have been around the club for a lot of years now,” he said.
“It’s the only trophy we never have been able to get – not even lay our eyes on it. To be six days away from playing off in it who have been here a while it’s pretty exciting.”
Andrew Mathieson
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
The day I realised I wasn't good enough to play for St Kilda or be the No.1 spinner for Australia was when I realised journalism was the closest I could come to follow my passion for sport. And it's not just about the scores for me. It's the back story behind the game.
