BEECHWORTH captain Brenton Surrey believes his side will have to produce its best performance of the season to defeat Yarrawonga-Mulwala in this weekend’s grand final at Norm Minns Oval.
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Although the Wanderers inflicted their opponents only loss of the season in a one-day match before Christmas, Surrey said the minor premier presented a huge challenge.
“They will be red-hot favourites,” Surrey said.
“They haven’t done a thing wrong all season.
“We beat them in the last round before Christmas, but that was a one-day match where anything can happen and it was the best we’ve played by a country mile.
“On form throughout the year, they are definitely short-priced favourites.”
Yarrawonga-Mulwala and Beechworth have gone flag-for-flag over the last four seasons with both line-ups boasting a handful of matchwinners.
Few will be more important than Lakers’ star Josh Lawrence.
He has made 662 runs at 55 with Matt Casey (471) and Matt Knight (312) also among the top-five runscorers in the competition.
They will be tested by Beechworth bowlers Mark Butters and Richard Worcester who destroyed Rovers United-Bruck in last weekend’s semi-final.
Beechworth’s hopes of a big score will rest heavily on the shoulders of Kayde and Brenton Surrey with young quick James Irvine presenting their biggest challenge.
“They are high quality opposition,” Knight said.
“I would imagine it will be a really tough game.”
Knight believes a combination of factors were behind last weekend’s low-scoring semi-finals at Stan Hargreaves and Barmutha Park.
“It’s hard for me to say about the Beechworth game, but there was some really good bowling in our semi,” he said.
“The pitch looked good, the ball did a little sideways and, combined with a couple of bad shots, it probably saw us fall a few runs short of where we wanted to be.
“It was good to win and get through.”
Beechworth has selected young all-rounder Jake Biddulph after he missed a large chunk of the second half of the season due to university.
He sat out the Wanderers’ semi-final win over Rovers United-Bruck.
Biddulph has played in the club’s two recent flags.
In B grade, Rovers United-Bruck take on Ovens Valley United at Benalla’s Gardens Oval.
OAKFM will broadcast from 1.15pm on both days.
