Diggers captain Nathan Smith
Cricket
CORO Cougars captain Haydn Pascoe is daring to dream of an unprecedented Griffith first-grade treble ahead of Sunday's Peter Davis One-Day Cup final against Exies.
And why not?
The Cougars are fresh from a huge weekend that saw them capture the Don "Captain" Coleman Twenty20 Shield with a hoodoo-shattering win over Diggers and then confirm favouritism for the first-grade title the following day.
The in-form Pascoe is cautious of getting ahead of himself, but confessed the thought of winning all three pieces of local cricketing silverware has crossed his mind.
"We've certainly got the side to do it," he said.
"Filling up the cupboard with all the silverware this season would be great.
"We're all still pretty happy with the T20 win but another grand final win would be very handy.
"But we've got to win this one first, then get into the two-day final as well. There's plenty of work to do."
If Pascoe can replicate his recent form once again on Sunday, then Coro will go a long way towards making it two down, one to go in the trophy stakes.
He top-scored in both the Twenty20 final, with an unbeaten 51, and also on the first day of his side's clash with Diggers on Saturday with 31.
"I've been seeing the ball really well lately, hitting them really crisp," he said.
"In the T20 final I didn't really hack at the ball, I just batted it was normal, it felt good.
"And it's always good to know if I fail, we've got the firepower down the order to capitalise."
Exies skipper Marc Tucker himself in fine touch after snaring six wickets against Yenda on Saturday all but conceded favouritism in Sunday's final to Coro.
Tucker will lead a near full-strength side into the decider at Exies No.1, with the injured Warren Bock and unavailable pair Rick Merz and Tom Burge the only key men on the sidelines.
He said: "They've been the team to beat all year, sitting on top of the ladder for most of the season. But we're up to the challenge.
"We've still got a pretty decent side so we're looking forward to it."
In contrast, Pascoe said the secret to his team's recent success has been a settled line-up particularly at the top of the order.
Tim Rand and Peter Taprell are again set to open the batting in the final limited overs game of the season, with the likes of Pascoe, reigning cricketer of the year Paul Plummer and young slasher Fletcher Josling next on call.
"The last few years, actually, we've had the same sort of top six," the captain said.
"Coming up to finals you want your strongest side out there and we've been playing pretty much our full-strength team for the last three or four weeks."