Northern Suburbs, Raymond Terrace, Thornton and Port Stephens are chasing their first Hunter Valley Cup Twenty20 title on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A new champion will emerge whichever teams wins after the inaugural competition was taken out by Western Suburbs in 2015-16 and Kurri Weston won last season.
Raymond Terrace were runners up in 2015-16 and Thornton last season and could find themselves in the final after drawing A-grade team Port Stephens and Maitland cricket powerhouse Norths respectively.
While Norths have been a dominant side over the past decade they have yet to win at Twenty20 title and it’s a trophy all-rounder Lincoln Mills says they are eager to add to their cabinet.
Mills has been in outstanding one-day form, making 90 with the bat and grabbing three wickets for Maitland in the John Bull Shield last weekend against Newcastle C&S.
The quality of Norths team is reflected in the Maitland line-up with Mills joined by teammates Will Fort, Cael Smith, Cal Gabriel and Jordan Callinan.
However, there is an abundance of other all-round talent to call on including skipper Mike Wilson, Rex Greaves, Mitch Field, Ben Sayers and keeper Luke Stewart.
Thornton will be keen to make up for last year’s narrow loss in the final and have a mixture of big hitters led by evergreen Peter Gabriel, young skipper Jake Moore and quality bowling options in Daniel Willis, Elliott Thompson and Brent Dawes.
Raymond Terrace and Port Stephens will be squaring up in the other semi-final after meeting in the qualifying rounds when the Pythons got the points.
Port are one-day masters, winning the past four A-grade one-day comps and featuring rep players in the Moxey brothers Jarrod and Josh and plenty of other scoring power in Josh Dall, Grant Garland and .
Raymond Terrace are unbeaten this year in first grade cricket and have batting and bowling strengths right down the order including batsman Jaymes Thomas, Steve Smith, all-rounders Nick Savage, Jacob Page, Aaron and Shannon Bills, Will Maher and bowlers Cameron Bates and Mitchell Pinch.
Norths play Thornton at Robins and Terrace and Port meet at Lorn Park at 10am. The final is at 2pm.