Opener Trent Ball led the way for the Bulldogs — his hard fought 58 the top score in their 183 off 50 overs.

But McNeil said the Crows had been “average” in the run chase.

“I couldn’t fault our bowlers on Saturday but we were ordinary with the bat,” he said.

“We had the scoreboard ticking over but we kept losing wickets.

“We needed to build partnerships and, with the exception of Andrew Wilkes, who showed great maturity in his innings, we were average.”

Off-spinner Kris Milosta was the pick of the Crows. His 3-24 from 10 overs included three maidens.

McNeil said he expected to play Wodonga in the finals.

“That was the last of the one-dayers and so now we can focus on our strength — the two-day game,” he said.

“Gurjit Sandhu, our new English recruit, showed his class in his first game — they couldn’t get him off the square.

“Hopefully we run into them in the finals. I’ll back us to turn the tables.”

Wodonga captain Robbie Jackson was full of praise for his opening bat and bowler Byron Hales.

“It was a really good game of cricket from two teams you would imagine will be there come finals time,” he said.

“Trent has been working towards a good innings for a few weeks. He batted really well on what was a two-paced wicket.

“He batted for the best part of 30 overs and steadied the ship.”

Jackson said the Bulldogs were always confident of containing East Albury.

“We bowled to the plan and got two key wickets in Coulson and McNeil early,” he said.

“Hales bowled his 10 overs straight, in the hottest part of the day to finish with 1-21.

“We have a big quick in James Saker — something we haven’t had for some time and Brendan Klein-Boonschate showed his class with six overs for seven runs.”