The cream has risen to the top in the Rotorua/Taupo Senior Reserve Grade and this weekend Central Cricket Club and Geyser City John Paul College Old Boys will fight for bragging rights in the final.
A win in the final would be a remarkable story for either side. Central have not claimed the title since winning three in a row between 2007-2010, while the Geyser JPC team formed this year in an attempt to build better pathways for young cricketers in the region.
Geyser JPC vice-captain Liam Kelly, who took two wickets and scored a crucial 17 against Bay of Plenty Indians in the semi-final last weekend, said a win tomorrowwould be a great confidence boost for the side.
"It's all about developing a future for kids coming through, it would give us a real boost towards what we are trying to do here," Kelly said.
Bay of Plenty Indians played with a different style than what was expected in the semi-final, but Kelly said his side adapted well.
"They're really well known for being very attacking, but they came out and played quite sensibly. We played that to our advantage, put pressure on them and then got out there and chased down the runs they put on."
FACE OFF: Geyser JPC vice-captain Liam Kelly (left) and Central's Paul Wyllie. Photo/Stephen Parker
He said his team's greatest strength was their bowling, but the batsmen were eager to produce as well.
"Our focus is probably just going out there and putting some runs on the board, that's probably been our weakest part of our team this season so far, so it would be good to go out there and see a few people score some runs.
"I think we have the best bowling line-up in the competition by quite a way, I'm confident that we can defend any score really. It's the attitude in the field as well, we definitely get in behind each other and play really well as a team.
"I've got real confidence in this team, we've got the guys who can do the job."
Central captain Paul Wyllie was pleased with way his team had built throughout the season.
"[In the semi-final against Lake Taupo] all aspects of the game were covered well. We had good batting performances from Nathan [Hall] and Aaron [Bennett] and a phenomenal bowling performance from Ben Fraser. It was absolutely a good team performance," Wyllie said.
He said he had played for the side for four years and this would be his first final. The regular season game against Geyser JPC was washed out but there were not too many unknowns for the Central side.
"We've played against a lot of the guys in their team before and we know they've got some secret weapons - Jono Collier, one of their opening bowlers, and Kane Vanner is their top batsman. We know enough about them to know which guys to look out for and get rid of early and which bowlers we need to see off.
"I just want to see exactly what we had last Saturday. If we bat first I want to see good positive batting, looking to be aggressive at the right moments and tick the score over. In the field we want commitment and bodies on the line and nice tight bowling.
"It would be massive to win the final, considering we qualified fourth and we'd only had two full games of cricket before the semi-final."
