Footscray is one step away from a Premier Cricket grand final after negotiating a way past Monash Tigers with a five-wicket quarter-final victory at Central Reserve at the weekend.
Standing in the way of the Bulldogs and a first trip to a season decider since their 2013-14 premiership glory is Fitzroy Doncaster.
There could not be a tougher semi-final assignment for the Bulldogs – facing a side that has won the past two Premier Cricket flags and finished as minor premier this season.
Footscray captain Dylan Kight acknowledges the toughness of the opponent, but is backing his team’s ability to turn up in big matches, as it did against Monash in week one of the finals.
“They’ve gone back-to-back, they’re looking to win three in a row and are the minor premiers, so they’ve been the benchmark,” Kight said. “We’ve got an enormous amount of respect for them, but we won’t be fearing them in any way. If we go out there and follow our plans, we’ll go a long way to pushing the game deep on Sunday and then you never know.”
Footscray hardly put a foot wrong in the win over Monash.
The Bulldogs were confronted with unfavourable bowling conditions on day one, but rolled Monash out for 197. On a hot day, the Bulldogs needed to be disciplined with their lines and lengths and follow their plans because there was little assistance in the pitch.
“If you don’t have every single person that comes on to bowl buying into that, you’ve really got no chance of maintaining the pressure for all the overs,” Kight said. “It was a really good effort to restrict them to 197 and bowl them out.”
Ben Green, a surprise selection for Footscray, starred with the ball.
Green is an experienced campaigner, but had not been seen in the first XI since way back in round two.
It was a masterstroke from the selectors as Green took 5-53 off 24 overs, including 10 maidens.
“He only found out late Thursday night that he was going to be playing,” Kight said. “He’s played 115 first XI games, so we knew what to expect from him … and that’s what we got. The wicket suited his bowling – it was a bit low. He just bowled stump to stump, we ringed up the field and they weren’t getting away from him.”
In a calculated run chase, the Bulldogs were confronted with similarly disciplined bowling from Monash, so they had to be patient.
Matthew Underwood did a power of work, chewing up 169 balls for his 35.
That allowed Hayden Butterworth, with 38 off 71, and Travis Dean, 75 off 165, to accelerate later in the innings.
Dean’s performance was one right from the top shelf.
“I’ve played a lot of cricket with Trav, but I think that was the best knock I’ve seen him play with Footscray and probably one of the most important,” Kight said.
“It’s hard to explain how difficult it was to score on that wicket.
“With the wicket being slow and low, it was very tough to score and Monash bowled well.”
Footscray’s semi-final against Fitzroy Doncaster will be a Saturday-Sunday two-day game at Schramms Reserve this weekend.
