CRICKET Albury-Wodonga’s chances of winning back-to-back Konica- Minolta Twenty20 crowns have been bolstered by the inclusion of star pacemen Gurjit Sandhu and Mark Butters for Sunday’s semi-final in Canberra.
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Sandhu has played only two matches for East Albury since arriving from England and has impressed.
Butters leads CAW’s wicket-taking list with 28 scalps at 11.86.
Ball said the pair had boosted the chances of bringing down Queanbeyan in the semi-final.
“I can’t wait to have Butters and Sandhu running in from both ends,” Ball said.
“It gives plenty of confidence to the group having these two big guns.
“There is a different feel about this group riding on the coat tails from winning the Konica Cup last year.
“We’re not playing the underdog card at all like we have in the past — we feel as if we are the team to beat.”
All Australian player James McNeil is available for a powerful CAW side that includes seven imports.
Ball said CAW would need everyone firing to advance to the night final at Manuka Oval.
“Queanbeyan has some class players and obviously Mark Higgs played for Australia and also Blake Dean who is playing for Sydney Thunder,” he said.
Western District Uni takes on Tuggernong in the other semi-final.
The CAW team is: Will Brown, Trent Ball, Tom Wells, Jason van De Merwe, James McNeil, Sam Drury, Mat Armstrong, Ashan Ranaweera, Zach Simmonds, Paul Connolly, Gurjit Sandhu, Mark Butters. Emerg: Cameron White, Ash Borella.
