The biggest rivalry in the Invitational Big Bowls Challenge will continue on Friday night when Kurri Kurri and East Cessnock face off in the grand final at Valentine Bowling Club.

The Comets earned the right to defend last year’s title after toppling minor premiers Maitland City at Maitland City Bowling Club on Wednesday night.

A straight-sets win to Simon Mitchell over English international David Holt in singles set up the result, and a tiebreak win in the triples sealed the win.

With East Cessnock up 9-1 after two rinks, the doubles was called a draw before the tiebreak to leave the final result at 11.5-3.5.

But the win, according to East Cessnock captain Michael Cronin, wasn’t as comfortable as it appeared on paper.

“It was backs-to-the-wall stuff, which has not been any different to our other finals games,” he said.

“Simon (Mitchell) only won in the final two rounds of the set, and we went down 16-1 in triples before winning in the tie-break.”

It set up a rematch of last year’s grand final, and it goes without saying that the two clubs need little introduction to one another.

East Cessnock’s two Big Bowls titles – in the 2008/09 and 2012/13 seasons – have both come with wins against Kurri Kurri.

Last season’s defeat in the decider was particularly painful for the Cannons, having lost grand finals to Valentine and Swansea respectively in the two seasons prior.

Friday night’s grand final will be Kurri Kurri’s sixth in the nine years the competition has run.

Cronin said the record was indicative of Kurri Kurri’s consistency. 

“They’ve probably been the team to beat over the past six years and you always know you’re in for a tough game,” he said.

The two sides met back in the opening round of this season, with Kurri Kurri exacting some measure of revenge for the grand final loss with a 9-6 win at East Cessnock.

Kurri Kurri captain Nathan Dawson set up the victory with a tiebreak win over Mitchell in the singles, and their duel could once again be crucial in deciding the grand final outcome.

For Cronin, Mitchell has been pivotal in steering the Comets into the grand final after finishing fourth in the regular season.

“The key has probably been Simon, to win the second set comfortably against David Holt made it a lot easier for us, and he also turned it around at Beresfield,” he said.

The decider will be played on Valentine Bowling Club’s synthetic surface.

The grand final begins at 6pm.

Big Bowls Grand Final

Kurri Kurri vs East Cessnock

Singles: Nathan Dawson v Simon Mitchell

Pairs: Andrew Rees, Terry Antram v Brodie Turner, Michael Cronin

Triples:Michael Smith, Aaron Appleby, Brendan Baker v Marc Bender, Clint Doust, Jon Dimopoulos