In this weekend's Gunnedah District Cricket grand final, the best side may not necessarily win.
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At least, that's what Albion captain Brad Cady believes. Instead, he said, it will most likely come down to whichever side has the best fortune on the day, and who can grab their chances most effectively.
"It's going to be a challenge on Saturday for sure," Cady said.
"The better side on the day will win, it's not who's better overall but who's better on the day.
"I don't really go into any game thinking we're going to win. Cricket's a funny game, strange things can happen."
Their opponents will be Court House, who pulled off an astonishing heist on Saturday to successfully chase 147 against Mornington, despite stumbling to 6-47 early in the second innings.
The size of the Kitchener Park ground, Cady said, played into the hands of the more aggressive Court House batters.
"I thought Mornington were probably a good chance of winning," Cady said.
"At that ground, any team can get away from you quickly or resurrect their innings quickly because it's so small. Playing at that oval for the grand final is definitely going to be an advantage to Court House."
On paper, Albion has without question been the best team of the 2021/22 season. A record of 10 wins and just one loss gave the side the minor premiership by a comfortable margin, while Mornington, in second place, won five and lost five.
But that statistic will mean little to the side on Saturday, after Court House's miserly bowling and some stunning lower-order hitting from Jaycob Price secured the semi-final win.
The upcoming final will be the third consecutive time these two teams have faced off for the premiership, but that experience will be small comfort according to Albion quick James Mack.
"This is the third year in a row I think that we've played them, so it's not like we're not familiar, but both of our sides are completely different," Mack said.
"Either team has guys that can change the game and it depends which guys fire, really. We'll put the strongest side together that we can."
Both Cady and Mack agreed that it will be critical to bowl in good areas and try to strangle the Court House batting lineup as much as possible.
"We'll just have to stop the boundaries when they're batting, just put pressure on," Cady said.
"Kitchener's just got smaller boundaries [than Wolseley] and you have to bowl better areas," Mack explained.
"The wicket on Saturday looked to be a bit slow, but we'd had a lot of rain. I don't think [the size of the ground] would make much difference to how we bowled, other than not short."
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Whatever the condition of the pitch on Saturday, Albion will go into the game as the favourites. The players, however, will not take victory for granted, but are "quietly excited" to play for a third straight title, Mack said.
"We haven't really spoken too much about it," he said.
"Right now we're finding out who's right to play and we'll pick a side and go from there ... but I'm sure everyone's quietly excited."
Albion will face Court House this Saturday, March 12, at Kitchener Park from 1pm in the GDCA grand final.
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