VSDCA finals 2020-21: Williamstown set to face flag favourite Kew

Williamstown captain-coach Brent McMinn assesses his side’s chances of making an impact in finals after it grabbed the last spot in the top six.

Williamstown captain-coach Brent McMinn on his way to 48 against Hoppers Crossing on Saturday. Picture: Hamish Blair

Williamstown will have to take down premiership favourite Kew to advance past the opening week of Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association finals.

The Seagulls claimed the last spot in the North-West group top six after knocking off Hoppers Crossing in the final round of the home-and-away campaign on Saturday.

It marks the club’s fourth consecutive finals appearance, with the past three summers delivering two premierships.

While Kew will deservedly enter the clash as a red-hot favourite after an undefeated regular season, Williamstown boasts plenty of talent and will be no pushover.

“We’ve played finals … we’ve won some grand finals, and that just gives (players) confidence going into it,” Seagulls captain-coach Brent McMinn said.

“They’ve all been there before. It’s always an advantage when you’ve got finals experience.

“We’ll be riding off that, that’s for sure.

“Kew are the same, they’ve got a lot of experience in their team and players who have done it all before as well.

“It’s going to be a good game of cricket and hopefully it goes our way.”

James Cook will be key to Williamstown’s chances of advancing. Picture: Hamish Blair

Kew prevailed by 20 runs when the pair met in Round 11, piling on 8-242 before Williamstown reached 9-222 in reply.

McMinn said his team gave the star-studded minor premier “a good shake”, pointing to the fact it was the highest total compiled against Kew in 2020-21.

“There was a bit of improvement left out there. I didn’t get runs and a couple of others didn’t, and that’s where we maybe could have got those extra couple of runs,” he said.

“We weren’t that far away.

“I’m happy that we definitely challenged them and it will be in the back of their mind that we really took it up to them.”

But McMinn said the margin for error would be minimal this weekend, given the quality of the opponent and the one-day format.

“In 40-over cricket, if you have a bad half-an-hour or an hour, it’s game over,” he said.

“You’ve just got to be good for the whole game. That’s the key with shorter formats, just being consistent over the whole 80-over period with the bat and ball.

“I back our guys to get the job done this weekend and we’re definitely going to put on a good show.”

The Seagulls tuned up for the sudden-death fixture with an emphatic win over Hoppers Crossing in what was also a must-win contest to stay alive.

The visitors put up 7-158 after winning the toss, with McMinn top-scoring with 48 and James Cook contributing 42.

The Cats then crumbled to be all out for 101 in 21 overs, Mitchell Ferrie (3-35), Sean Sturrock (2-15), Daniel Popa (2-20) and Matt Twentyman (2-27) doing the damage.

McMinn described it as a “good all-round team performance”.

Brunswick (second) will host Werribee (fifth) and Plenty Valley (third) is at home against Preston (fourth) in the other qualifying finals.

The two lowest-ranked losers will be eliminated from the flag race.