SPOTSWOOD players expect a big convoy of supporters will join them for their cut-throat Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division semi-final this weekend and go some way to negating Beaumaris’s home-ground advantage.
The Woodsmen stumbled in the last round of the season with a first innings loss to Greenvale, losing the right to a home final.
Player-coach Matt Leddin is expecting the game to draw huge interest from club members and local cricket followers, with the Woodsmen attempting to qualify for their first XI grand final since the Dion Kratz-led team won the second-tier senior A1 flag in 2005-06.
“It’s a big weekend for the club,” Leddin said. “The boys are pumped up because it’s what you play cricket for, to experience finals. We’re hoping to get a big crowd down to Beaumaris for the game.”
The Woodsmen have been a model of consistency for most of the summer.
They chose the wrong time to have a “flat” week against Greenvale last start, losing inside a day and tumbling to third on the ladder.
Leddin is confident his players can wipe the slate clean and give themselves every chance of the ultimate success. “It was one of those days,” he says. “It was the only one this year when everyone was flat.”
A draw will not suffice for the the lower-ranked Woodsman. They have to chase the game and take all 10 Beaumaris wickets to advance to the grand final.
Abhijeet Sharma holds the key with the bat for the Woodsmen. The free-spirited left-handed opener has made a century and two half-centuries in his 428 runs at 35.7.
The other senior division semi-final will be an all-western suburbs affair.
Top dogs Yarraville Club, within reach of a historic fourth consecutive premiership, host Hoppers Crossing and their spin wizard Fawad Ahmed at Hansen Reserve.
