Cowra Bowling Club batsman Paul Basham is confident his club has what it takes to pull off an upset against top-of-the-table Grenfell in Saturday's Sportspower Cup preliminary final.
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After wiping the floor with Morongla last week, dismissing the fourth placed side for 62 before comfortably chasing their total down only losing two wickets, the Bowling Club have every reason to feel confident against a Grenfell side who would've been expecting to have the week off after a win last week.
While they despatched the second-placed Valleys in the final round of the season comfortably, Grenfell found themselves at the end of an bowling onslaught from the Valleys in last week's semi-final, who inflicted a surprise loss.
As a result, the season's first-placed finishers now find themselves forced into a sudden death prelim against the Bowling Club, who themselves beat Grenfell in their penultimate match.
While the man they call 'Bash' is not getting too carried away ahead of a potential Grand Final berth, with the upper-order batsmen saying his team will only look as far ahead as this weekend.
"At the minute, it’s just one week at a time," Basham said.
However, he did say that last week's victory, which itself came after a surprising loss to Morongla the week prior, offered plenty of positive lessons for this week's final.
“The best part of it was the bowling improved and the fielding… there was a lot more enthusiasm,” he said.
Basham added he was going to keep his personal goals simple and team-oriented on Saturday, suggesting that after maintaining a consistent squad for the past few seasons, his side has developed a strong bond.
"[It's] usually the same people week-in week-out… so we’re all pretty close and get along,” he said, acknowledging the promise a Grand Final holds.
"“It’d be great to win it, especially with how close everyone is."
Saturday's preliminary final starts at 1.30 pm at Holman Oval.
