“We’re not here to make the numbers, we want to go hard and go far in these finals and contend for the big one,” Whittard said.

Diggers will clash with Exies at Westend Oval this weekend in the elimination final.

The matches move to the two-day format for finals which will see 70 overs played on Saturday before teams play from 10.30am to 6pm on Sunday unless the match finishes before then.

Whittard said the change in format wouldn’t affect how his side attacks the game.

“Not really, you have to think on your feet in any sort of cricket match and adapt to how it’s being played,” Whittard said.

“We’ll go in with the mindset to win and we’ll try and do that in whatever way we have to.”

A sign that bodes well for Diggers is in their past three starts, on two occasions they haven’t been bowled out.

In those games Diggers batted slower than usual in the pursuit of losing draws to give them much needed points.

Whittard said his side hadn’t set out to play that way.

“It comes back to adapting to the game,” Whittard said.

“A couple weeks ago, we figured we didn't have the firepower to chase that many runs but we needed points.

“I told them to knuckle down, don’t throw your wicket away and I was very happy with the way they played.”

Diggers come into the game on the back of two wins and two losing draws in the past four rounds. Exies comes in with a win, a winning draw and two losses from the past four matches.

GDCA UMPIRES

First grade

1pm start Saturday, 10.30am start Sunday

Qualifying final: Coro v Leagues at Exies No. 1. Umpires: Peter Davis, Garry Tucker

Elimination final: Exies v Diggers at Westend. Umpire: Joe Catanzariti, Don Coleman

Second grade

1pm start Saturday

Qualifying final: Coro v Diggers at Hanwood. Umpire: Gordon Browne

Elimination final: Leagues v Hanwood at Collina. Umpires: Richie Alvaro, Doug Cattanach