YENDA captain Shaun Stubbs believes the Jets’ fate in Sunday’s Griffith District Cricket Association one-day final against Leagues Club is tied to how they perform on Saturday.
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The Jets need to negotiate the second day of their two-day match against Hanwood before they battle the Panthers and have work to do to avoid a first innings defeat.
Yenda is 5-41 chasing Hanwood’s 9-132. It’s a tricky assignment, but Stubbs thinks a good batting display on Saturday can flow into the one-day final.
“I reckon it can make a big difference,” Stubbs said.
“If we can get 90 runs and stop Hanwood getting first innings points, I’ll be really impressed with that.”
With a pace attack fronted by Brett Hazelman and Jesse Wade-Ryan at his disposal, Stubbs has plenty of faith in the Jets’ bowling ability.
Batting, however, is another matter. When they’re on, the Jets can be devastating with the willow. But when they’re not, they can struggle.
“We don’t want Sunday to be a not day, if you know what I mean,” Stubbs said.
“I think we try and get the runs too quick sometimes and don’t time ourselves and bat out the overs.
“We like to put the opposition on the back foot, but it doesn’t always pan out how we’d want it to.”
Leagues Club has similar consistency issues with its batting, but the Panthers roared back to life in their two-day clash against Coro last week.
Propelled by a whirlwind 95 from Dan Bozic, the Panthers scored an imposing 7-256 before reducing Coro to 2-8 at the end of the day.
The match is a must win for the Panthers if they are to qualify for the two-day finals.
Like Stubbs, Panthers captain Paul Plummer believes a good performance on Saturday can set his team up for the one-day final.
“It’ll give us good confidence to take into Sunday,” he said.
“We got in the one-day final last year and lost, so we’ve got a bit of extra drive, I suppose.
“We played really good cricket at the weekend, so I think we’ll be a good chance.”
Plummer is tipping a big performance from top-order batsman Connor Matheson, who has been uncharacteristically quiet on the run-scoring front.
“I think he’ll be one to watch,” Plummer said. “But if we all chip in and do our part, we should be right.”