Hanwood take on Exies in semi final

Hanwood have been forced to make changes to the side that defeated Yenda last week, but captain Dean Catanzariti remains confident. One of his returning players is the competition’s equal leading wicket taker, Tom West.

“We are not 100 per cent sure on the make-up of the side yet. We will have (Jason) Bertacco, Whitty (Jamie Whitworth) and Chris Milojevic out. Most likely it will be Westy (Tom West), Michael McWhirter and Tom Shannon back in,” Catanzariti said.

“If we can improve on our batting, that's all we need to work on. Last week wasn’t a great reflection of our standard of batting. Twenty-four wickets falling in a day is a rarity.

“If Charlie (Cunial) keeps bowling the way he is, he will be hard to handle, and Westy’s been our number one bowler all year, so hopefully he’s on his game.

“As long as we get an opening start and take the pressure off the middle order, we will be looking pretty good.”

Both Hanwood and Exies come into the match after strong performances in the final round of the regular season.

Hanwood knocked off Yenda last week on the back of a superb bowling effort led by Cunial. Exies beat Diggers following a strong batting display, where three players made scores of 40-plus.

Hanwood took the spoils last time the teams met, but Exies captain Marc Tucker said his side could turn it around after some healthy batting last round.

“All year, one or two of us have batted well,” he said.

“But last (match) three, four and five did the job with the bat. If we can get those scores again this week it will go a long way to winning the game.”

Tucker, however, said Exies’ fielding had to improve.

“We dropped a few catches (against Diggers), which didn't help, so fielding would be our main thing to work on this week,” he said.

The loser of the game will play the winner of the Yenda and Leagues Club semi-final.