Abattle for the ages will commence this weekend as teams fight for a place in the most open Hoggies Wines Barber Shield Grand Final in almost a decade.
For the first time in nine years North Sportsman’s will not feature in the finals race which means there will be a new winner of the biggest prize of the cricketing summer.
Across two days of action cricket fans will be in heaven seeing the region’s best fight it out in two cut-throat semi-finals, whilst watching, listening or following Australia’s historic Test tour of Pakistan and the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup.
Closer to home, there is a genuine reason to get behind each of the four remaining sides as they resume rivalries after meeting each other as recently as last weekend.
After wrapping up the minor premiership with a big win over Mil Lel at home, Penola hopes to make it two from two against the same opposition at the same venue.
The Eagles have returned to full flight with their batters and well-rounded bowling attack hitting strong form at the pointy end of the summer.
No player in the competition is the same touch as Penola opener Jack Mullan is right now.
The hard-hitting opener has smashed scores of 87, 66 and 101 in his last three appearances at the crease.
Two of those fifties were scored against Mil Lel where Mullan’s efforts were the major difference between the sides.
George Kidman has also shown his all-round skills in a team hungry to make up for last year’s Grand Final defeat.
Mil Lel has been the surprise packets of the summer and dreams of stealing the limelight furthermore to snatch one of the most unexpected Grand Final berths of modern memory.
The same club that has collected the wooden spoon for the last three summers and has not played finals since 2013/14 is one win away from performing on Broadway.
Will Rowland has led the way taking down attacks at the top of the order being one of the few batters to break the 300-run barrier this season.
With the ball captain Jack Miller has steered the ship taking 25 wickets with strong support from fellow seamers Logan Gibbs and Nicholas Walters.
But it will require a big performance for Mil Lel to topple the Eagles with the former needing to step up in each discipline on the evidence of last weekend.
East and West Gambier have enjoyed a fine rivalry in recent times and will face off in a winner-takes-it-all bout at Malseed Park.
The Bulldogs will be licking their lips having won the previous three encounters, plus overcoming their recent small run chase blues, but the Roos will still fancy their chances at home.
Drama will be a certainty following last weekend’s intriguing affair plus the fact West and East played out the most recent tie in Barber Shield cricket.
One man who will fancy his chances of a match-winning effort will be Dion Stratford, who is fresh from sealing the recent encounter with 92 runs of the best when the chips were down.
It was the latest single in a growing album of Stratford smash hits against the Roos at Malseed Park.
In a golden run that stretches back to 2017/18, the classy right-hander has amassed runs 407 at an average of 101.75.
The West bowlers will not want to read those Bradman-like numbers and they must find a way to beat the bat of Stratford.
Captain Richard Crute will turn to Kyal Chapman, Sam Willis, Bray Stephenson and himself for the golden wicket.
With four quality teams looking to squeeze into two spots, drama is a guarantee across a weekend where endurance will play a big factor as players are forced to back up their performances across Saturday and Sunday for the first time this season.
