BDCA: Colts and Marist to face off in women’s preliminary final

A place in the Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association women’s first-grade grand final will be on the line when Colts and Marist face off in the preliminary final at Bunbury Recreation Ground on Sunday.

Colts fell just short of sealing the first place in the season decider in a three-run qualifying final loss to minor premiers Leschenault on Sunday, while Marist kept their season alive and ended Donnybrook’s premiership defence with a three-wicket victory in the elimination final.

The one-day games between the two sides this season have both been low-scoring affairs — Colts bowled Marist out for 33 to secure a 33-run win in round six, but the Blues got their revenge by routing Colts for just 19 in a dominant 138-run win in round nine.

Marist’s bowling attack boasts the competition’s two leading wicket-takers in Quinn Newton and Kayleigh Lynch, who have combined to claim 39 victims across the course of the season and shape as critical in their hopes of progressing to the grand final.

For Colts, young gun all-rounder Addison Hall, the competition’s third leading run-scorer with 244 and fourth-highest wicket-taker with 15, will be looking to continue a strong recent run of form.

With three rounds remaining in the men’s first-grade regular season, the competition’s top three sides will come up against the sides in the bottom three as the race for the finals continues.

Ladder-leaders Colts will host fourth-placed Leschenault at Bunbury Recreation Ground, with the Green Caps holding a buffer of a solitary premiership point over fifth-placed Marist in the last finals place.

Fresh off winning the T20 final on Sunday, second-placed Dalyellup will head to Forrest Park to take on the Blues.

Hay Park, who sit one win ahead of Leschenault and two in front of Marist in the race for third spot, will head to Roche Park to take on sixth-placed Collie, who have no realistic chance of making the finals.