THEY’VE been in dominating form so far, and Tamworth and Inverell will be hoping that continues tomorrow as they take strike for Country Shield and Plate finals berths.
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Tamworth will host Cessnock-Branxton in a Shield quarter-final, while Inverell will head to Armidale for a “home” Plate clash against Wauchope.
Both have monstered their opposition so far.
Inverell thrashed Moree and then Walcha by eight wickets before accounting for Upper Hunter by 124 in the last round.
Tamworth, meanwhile, has pummelled Armidale by 169 runs and Gunnedah by nine wickets.
Adding extra spice for them is that the finals series will be played in Tamworth between Christmas and the New Year.
They would love to feature in those.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’s pretty exciting,” skipper Ben Middlebrook said.
“Sunday can’t come quick enough.”
Tamworth was undone at the corresponding stage last year and won’t be taking Cessnock lightly.
“Cessnock will obviously be decent competition,” Middlebrook said.
“They beat Brisbane Waters, who towelled up Tamworth last year.”
They do also have a couple of recent Central North reps in their ranks, although Middlebrook doesn’t know too much about them.
The Tamworth side looks very strong on paper.
“We’ve got a lot of batting and a lot of bowling,” Middlebrook said.
“We’ve got all bases covered.”
They bat pretty well down to nine, with Jack Beaumont batting high up the order for North Tamworth.
That augurs well for a good total.
Middlebrook would be looking for something around 250.
“If it’s the same pitch we used for the War Veterans Cup final, we’ll be looking for 250,” he said.
There was a litle bit in it for the bowlers with the new ball, but it was a good batting deck.
It has had a bit of rain on it since then though, and could be a bit wet.
The good thing is they’ve got guys in form.
Most of the batsmen have a century or half-century to their name.
“Batting out the 50 overs will be the first goal,” Middlebrook said.
“Then setting up pressure with the new ball.”
The responsibility for that will likely fall with Ben Semmler and Will Howard.
Semmler has been bowling well and could be a key weapon on
Sunday.
“He moves the ball both ways and can be pretty difficult to pick up,” he said.
“He’s got decent pace as well.”
Lachie Davidson will back them up with Simon Toyer and Mitch Holt to provide medium support.
Middlebrook then has a wealth of spinners at his disposal, with himself, Beaumont, Harrison Kelly and Richie O’Halloran.
They all offer something different too.
“We’ve got good variety there,” he said.
He isn’t concerned that they haven’t been tested so far.
“We’ve got a fair bit of experience in the team.
“If the situation comes up I’m sure we’ll be right.”