In just its second season in the Haisman Shield, a grand final berth is within Nagambie's reach.
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While a strong foe — Kyabram — stands in the Lakers’ path, the surprise-packet has regularly upset highly-fancied opponents to earn a spot in the final four — and now one win separates it from an almost unthinkable title shot.
After an electrifying 5-0 start, the Lakers had won just once since November before last weekend's masterpiece, a 103-run upset of top-ranked Numurkah to keep their season alive.
“It's only our second year; not many expected us to play finals last season, not many expected us to do it again this year and definitely no-one thought we could beat Numurkah,” Nagambie captain Mark Nolan said.
“Anything can happen in a game of cricket; our best is as good as anyone's, but our worst is very poor.
“The boys are up and about and I thought we played good cricket last weekend, a pretty good game on both days. If we bring a similar level of play that will go a long way.”
Nagambie ticked all boxes in its qualifying final win, but Nolan's and brother Luke's 140-run partnership — their fourth century stand this season — stood out as match-defining.
But opener Ricky Misiti (46) and the entire bowling unit also impressed — both aspects that will be vital against the rock-solid Redbacks, who comfortably beat the Lakers in round 13.
“We know what they bring, they've got a fair few nice bowlers that hit line and length and are hard to get away,” Nolan said.
“We'll work on that at training tonight because the boys got a bit bogged down the last time we played them. We had a slow start, we were 2-2 after 10 or 12 overs and we'd hope to do a bit better than that, we might change the order around a bit.
“Luke has batted really well since Christmas and I'd hope he can be the rock in our middle-order again.”
Nolan — who was ranked number one in Outside The Box's player rankings — is undoubtedly Nagambie's clearest path to victory after 572 runs at 47.7 and 25 wickets at 18.4.
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