Telikom Titans and Trukai Invincibles will face off in the SP Super Series grand final this Sunday with both teams oozing with confident about winning the prestigious trophy.
The grand final winner will walk away K8 000 richer while the runner up will get K4 000 and the third and fourth placing teams get K2 000 and K1 000 each respectively.
At Colts Grounds Brian Bell and Steamships Hardware will fight it out for the third and fourth placing.
The main final will begin at 10 am following a curtain raiser Kirket Bilong Sumatin match.
Representatives from major sponsor SP Brewery and team sponsors Steamships Hardware, Trukai, Telikom and Brian Bell are expected to attend the inaugural SP Super Series One Day grand final.
Captains, coaches, team managers and the media attended a media conference at the Cricket Haus yesterday in Port Moresby to express their thoughts about the final and SP Super Series season including the twenty/20 series.
Team managers present at the media conference Kilian Amini (Steamships Hardware), Udu Vai (Trukai Invincibles), Misi Samuel (Brian Bell) and Girigi Moang (Telikom Titans) agreed the players lived up to the standard of semi professional cricket.
Vai said it was a learning experience for most of players as they are used to play cricket for their local clubs and stepping up to representative cricket was a new and a big step for majority of them.
Amini said the SP Super Series was a great idea but said the standard would have been better if players could have succumbed easily to fatigue which clearly showed in some of their matches.
Telikom Titans coach Eddie Tamarua is expecting his opening batsmen to step up against Trukai Invincibles in the SP Super Series grand final on Sunday.
Titans will be hoping to this time claim the one day title after they were denied the twenty/20 title in the finals against Brian Bell which they lost by two wickets.
Tamarua is positive his ‘big guns’ in veteran Jimmy Maha, master blaster Assad Vala and Kapena ‘magic’ Arua will deliver him to victory on that faithful afternoon at Amini Park.
Maha led the Titans to book their grand final ticket when he made 117 not out along with Vala’s fine touch of 77 runs and wicket keeper Arua Dikana adding the extras with 27 runs to cap off their victory.
The 45 year old Kira Kira Cricket Club coach is also aware of the fact of players ‘dropping form’ so suddenly and has already gone about fixing the loop hole.
“We have a game plan we will be working on and obviously that issue about batsman dropping form and picking up form each match is seriously been addressed,” said Tamarua at the media conference at the yesterday.
“Also bowling has been our problem and we have been working on that during training this week but other wise everything is looking good for us,” Tamarua said.
Titan’s captain Mahuta Kivung said their players dropping all of a sudden was a concern but said that can be avoided once the players themselves put themselves into finals mood.
“I’m not expecting too much from them, at least if we all can score enough runs to get past the target or contribute towards a reasonable target I don’t see why we can’t maintain our form and win the final, it’s a team work,” Kivung said.
The Invincibles skipper John Ovia has also confirmed there were no major injury worries for his side going into the grand final apart himself and Wala Vala ‘feeling sore’ after last Sunday’s semi final win over Brian Bell at Colts Grounds.
Ovia said there were little patches that the team was working on during training to improve but he was confident the Invincibles will be able to match the Titans.
Asked if he won the toss and what he would decide to do, Ovia simply said, “It’s a 50 over game so it has two sides that is bowling and batting.
“But I would rather like to bat first and put a good score somewhere between 250-260 and defend, I believe I we got the bowling depth that can help us win the game.
“Comparing our recent form in the twenty/20 finals I think we have improved a lot in the 50 overs matches, we have been consistent at times, experienced little hiccups and worked on the little things right.
“But that was all part of a learning process and I’m confidence that has put in a good path towards the grand final,” Ovia said.
Last Modified on 20/06/2008 15:45