Adam Blacka led his Tathra team into the FSCCA A grade decider with a man-of-the-match performance on Saturday.
TATHRA will take on arch rivals Eden in the Far South Cricket Association grand final at Tathra on Saturday.
After dominating the 2012/13 competition, it comes as little surprise that these two teams will clash in the final round of competition.
Tathra defeated the only other side capable of a grand final berth, Merimbula, at Tathra’s Lawrence Park on Saturday.
Merimbula could probably consider itself unlucky this season after finishing a close third to Eden after the preliminary rounds.
Last Saturday’s match was ideal preparation for Tathra, as Merimbula put up a fight against the minor premiers.
Merimbula won the toss and elected to bat first, and despite an early collapse the visitors managed to compile a defendable total of 210 off 70 overs.
Merimbula’s Mac Wright and Adam Daley starred for their side scoring 61 and 62 runs respectively.
Tathra’s Adam Blacka, who has been the standout player in the competition, was again in the thick of the action taking six wickets. He finished with figures of 6/60 off 25 overs.
Sebastian Arratia took 2/62 off 14 overs, while Chris O’Brien and Dan Blacka snared one wicket each.
In reply, Tathra’s top and middle order fired with the bat, and it was again Adam Blacka leading the way in a man-of-the-match performance.
Blacka, coming in as fourth drop, complied a well-fought 68 runs to provide the backbone of the Maroon’s innings.
Ross Jones (30), Geordie Gibbs (31), Ben O’Reilly (24) and Peter Bennett (18) also made starts.
Tathra finished with figures of 7/212 from 76 overs.
Eden will have plenty to do if it wants to cause a major upset on Saturday, and will probably go into the match a little under-done after having faced little resistance against a relatively young and inexperienced Pambula side at Eden.
Pambula batted first with opener Shane Garrett running out of partners on his way to scoring 31 runs.
There were only three other batsman to score runs, with their total being 12 runs. In what was probably the biggest loss suffered by a team this season, Pambula’s line-up saw seven batsman return to the pavilion for ducks.
The visitors finished at 10/47 off 27.1 overs.
Eden’s Tyrone Thomas was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/7 off eight overs.
In reply, Eden’s top order dug in to finish at 3/158 from 42 overs.