A point was all that separated Sunbury and Riddell at the end of the Gisborne and District Cricket Association first XI home-and-away season.
From this Saturday, the two teams will battle it out for the McIntyre Cup, the association’s highest team honour.
Sunbury reached the final on the back of an annihilation of Woodend, while Riddell got through thanks to a draw with Bacchus Marsh.
PICTURE GALLERY: Bacchus Marsh v Riddell semi-final
The Marsh players have reason to feel disappointed.
After winning the toss on Saturday and electing to bat, they reached 8-190 declared from 71.1 overs.
On Sunday, it was Riddell’s turn to bat. Bacchus Marsh struck early when Cameron Moran was run out for two.
Riddell knew it didn’t need a victory to progress to the grand final.
The vagaries of sub-elite cricket mean top-ranked teams only ever need draws to progress beyond elimination finals.
And so Riddell stonewalled, scoring at only two runs an over. It was never going to be enough for victory over Bacchus Marsh, but in keeping wickets in hand the safe route to the decider proved to be the successful one.
Daniel Fisk (55no), Matt Darby (31) and Hayden Castle (27) spent enough time at the crease to ensure the draw, with Riddell finishing 4-140 off 70 overs. Bacchus Marsh was frustrated, but could not complain about a lack of time in which to remove the opposition batsmen.
In a stark contrast, the other semi-final was emphatically dominated by one team: Sunbury.
Winning the toss and batting first, Sunbury posted 282 from 106 overs.
None of the top three got the sort of scores needed to anchor an innings, but all applied themselves for handy double-figure tallies.
A 98-run stand between Jacob Brewer (87) and Jamie Bolger (24) pushed the score well into triple figures, but the loss of Brewer triggered a collapse of 5-67.
Skipper Jason McGann (78) picked a great time to post his fifth half-century of the season, sharing a stand of 60 with Ray Davis (10no).
It took Sunbury’s bowlers only 24.3 overs to wrap things up by bowling Woodend out for 79.
McGann (3-21), Heath Boffey (3-36). Stephen Treweek (2-8) and Davis (2-9) shared the wickets.
