Last weekend, the Yass District Cricket Association held the first round of the A and B Grade T20 competition which, as promised, provided a full day of exciting cricket for spectators and players.
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In order to fit the competition into its allotted two-week window, both the first round of matches and the semi-finals were played on Saturday afternoon, and in the end it was the Yass Bowling Club Pirates and the Yass Golf Club Snipers who made it through to the grand final.
The progression of these teams into the final marks a significant improvement for both sides, as they had struggled with consistency early in the season.
According to Snipers captain Dave Field, the key to their success has been the improvement of their bowling and fielding.
“We’re playing a lot better [in general],” he said.
In a similar vein, Field believes that the key to the Snipers’ success this weekend will be continuing the form that the team has found in the last few weeks.
“Hopefully [we] just continue bowling pretty consistently and not giving any extras,” he said.
“Limiting the extra balls really and just taking our catches [is the key]. It makes a big difference, especially in T20.”
For the Pirates, it was the improvement in their batting which allowed them to make the final, along with a more positive mindset leading into the T20 tournament.
“I didn’t know how serious the boys wanted to take it,” Pirates captain Brad Wylie said.
“Everyone took it pretty serious [and] dug in … if we can just get some runs on the board, batting’s been the problem obviously [early in the season].”
The Pirates’ passage to the grand final was more straightforward than that of the Snipers, as they progressed straight through to the semi-final against the Yass Golf Club Piranhas courtesy of a first round bye. The Snipers defeated the Gundaroo Goats to book a place in the final.
Even if they don’t win the grand final this weekend, Wylie said that the Pirates will take a great deal of confidence away from the tournament as a whole.
“I think if we have a good weekend this weekend, even if we lose, it’d be good to have the final and then have a Christmas break,” Wylie said.
“The boys are all a bit down, so hopefully last week and this weekend can give us pick up running into the Christmas break. We can come back after Christmas fresh.”
The introduction of the T20 tournament has been met by general approval.
Field said that he thinks “it’s good for the comp to change things up a little bit.
“I think it’ll only improve in future years, all our guys enjoyed it anyway.”
Similarly, Wylie said that he thought the tournament was “pretty good”.
“It was good, something different I think, instead of the same old [format] every week.”
