James Murphy
WEST GAMBIER v MIL LEL
THE battle between first and fourth will have West Gambier well placed to book itself a place in the 2023-24 Barber Shield cricket grand final.
The Roos host Mil Lel in the first semi final at Malseed Park, which will be played in conjunction with the second semi-final over the next two Saturdays.
So far West has been all but untouchable, not dissimilar to its 2022-23 campaign.
The only blemish for the season is a Round 2 loss to North Sportsman’s, but since then it has been relatively smooth sailing for last year’s runners-up.
Mil Lel is a different story all together and after struggling last season with just one win, the club bounced back in a big way to start this season in impressive fashion.
Spending the first half of the season at the top of the leaderboard, things have since fallen away somewhat for Mil Lel, but they finished a comfortable fourth and rightly earned a finals appearance.
It will be difficult to tip against the Roos over the coming weeks, with no sign of weakness in their roster.
Just last round an impressive batting performance against Penola had West’s entire order stand up, with only two players not scoring double figures.
The likes of Justin de Jong, Sujith Nikethana, Jake Blackwell, Bray Stephenson and Nuwan Gunawardana have all been in hot form.
That is without even mentioning Sam Willis, whose first half of the season was nothing short of impressive, with bags of wickets and several standout batting performances.
He will relish the finals conditions and has remained a threat with bat and ball throughout the season.
West’s bowling attack is a dangerous beast and Willis had four wickets last round, aided by two-wicket hauls from Stephenson, de Jong and Nikethana.
Shane de Jong is also capable, while Bailey Rothall has had his moments with the ball and the bat.
On the other side of the contest, what Mil Lel lacks most is experience.
While there is talent by the bucket load, the side relies on its youth, which can sometimes be its undoing.
The likes of captain Jack Miller, Will Rowland, Jarrod Sanders and Nick Walters lead well and are complemented by the young talents in the list.
Darcy Williamson has had some solid batting performances, while Rowland has been the big hitter of the season.
Walters is solid at the crease, which was shown in the most recent clash with West, although he will want to up his run rate after facing 94 balls for just 11 runs.
Craig Hicks is another experienced head and he has had some strong outings with ball in hand.
Miller, along with youngsters Mitchell Little and Harry Hicks have also had some good days with the ball and they will need to keep the pressure on the Roos’ batsmen.
A five-wicket haul from Thomas Smith highlighted the Round 9 match against West, but despite holding the Roos to a 156 -first-innings score, they went on to beat Mil Lel by a substantial margin.
Mil Lel was all out for 104 before the Roos returned to the crease to score 247 runs and quench any chance of an upset.
A similar result may be imminent over the next two weeks, but finals can be unpredictable and we can expect Mil Lel to rise to the occasion and make West work for the win.
