THERE were some shock results in the final round of the NDCA regular season as the bottom two sides usurped the top two clubs.
Most surprisingly, last-placed Koondrook condemned Murrabit to their second loss in a row, chasing down the Blues’ 181 with three wickets to spare.
While the Blues had already confirmed a second consecutive home grand final, whoever wins out of Kerang or Barham this week will have gained confidence they are gettable.
It is season over for Koondrook, who can consider themselves unlucky after Kerang upset Barham and made their win meaningless in terms of the ladder.
However, the win will give them confidence to take into the off-season.
Kerang and Barham played out a thriller that is hopefully an entree to the main course this weekend as Kerang snuck home by two wickets.
It proved to be a crucial win for Kerang, who would have dropped out of finals if they lost.
Leigh Sobotnicki was once again the hero with the bat for Barham, scoring 98 of his side’s 135 runs.
Sobotnicki has been the best batsman in the NDCA since Christmas and will be the key piece to the puzzle if Barham is to make a deep finals run.
Kerang has its own in-form opener to thank for allowing them to reach the preliminary final.
Declan Hogg’s 75 off 60 balls was the outlier in an innings that only included one other player reaching double figures.
This weekend’s contest is a toss of the coin and it could come down to a battle of the two star openers in Hogg and Sobotnicki.
