‘Every game has been close’: Captains prepare for T20 grand final war

Senior cricket captains Shaun Austin and Tim Cridland have lifted the lid on their team’s lead-in form and key players as they battle it out to be crowned 2024 Mackay T20 champions.

Mudcrabs skipper Tim Cridland. Photo: Callum Dick

The curtain is close to being drawn on the 2024 Mackay T20 Smash competition with the hotly anticipated grand final clash on Friday night.

The Gibbs Air Crocs welcome the Custom Fluidpower Mudcrabs in the do-or-die clash after both teams won four out of their six clashes during the pool matches.

The Crocs have been able to claim narrow victories in both previous head-to-head clashes against the Mudcrabs and Crocs captain Shaun Austin said his side is prepared for another exceedingly close battle.

“We’re keen to get into it. Our focus in particular will be on the starting of their batting innings, we’ll need some early wickets to put them under some pressure,” Austin said.

“It’s a very close competition overall, we’re very happy that we made it through and the teams that didn’t would probably feel unlucky.

“There were a lot of close games, we’re pleased to have done enough good things during the pool matches to get through to the grand final.”

Shaun Austin of Gibbs Air Crocs.

Mudcrabs skipper Tim Cridland echoed many of the sentiments of his opposite number, adding that his team has no reason to count itself out.

“It’s clearly been a tightly contested competition, and (Friday) night is going to be no different,” Cridland said.

“They’ve got a lot of experience over there, they know how to bat out an innings well and make you do something special to beat them.

“Their experience level with the likes of Shaun and Adam Knezevic is key but for us it’s about having a strong start and making it too hard for them to take it late.

“If we bowl first we back ourselves to chase anything, so we want to be aggressive early to try to take wickets and if it doesn’t come off, back ourselves in to pull them back.”

Cody Filewood. Picture: Finer Photography

While Austin emphasised the team-first approach of his squad, he did make mention of young players such as Liam Zurvas who had been critical to the team’s success.

“It’s been absolutely brilliant, Liam was super impressive both with the bat and ball, obviously had that five-wicket haul but to score 40-plus up the order with the bat was awesome for him,” Austin said.

On the flipside, Cridland said there are a couple of key performers that the team will look to in the big moments.

“I think ‘Keeney’ (Cameron Keene) has been unreal with bat and ball, Jason Butterworth stepped in as captain for me a couple of times, and Cody Filewood is another who has impressed in all facets.”

Friday’s game gets underway at 6.30pm at Great Barrier Reef Arena.