Moama and Bamawm-Lockington United are gearing up for what promises to be a tightly contested battle in the McMahon Shield grand final on Sunday.

Both sides enter the decider coming off dominant semi-final victories, the Mowers easing to a nine-wicket win over Kyabram Fire Brigade while BLU coasted to a seven-wicket triumph over Echuca South.

The Mowers arguably come into the contest as the slight favourite, having finished first in the regular season with only one defeat, and also have the advantage of playing on their home wicket at Moama Recreation Reserve.

However, BLU will not fear its opponent, having triumphed the last time the two sides met, the one defeat Moama tasted this season, only two weeks ago.

But Lions captain Regis Chakabva isn’t getting carried away with that result, and is focusing on his side’s mental approach to this weekend’s encounter.

“Definitely they've (Moama) done well, and we've also done well to get to where we are so it's just really trying to remain as calm as we can on the day,” he said.

“Grand finals have a thing about who panics first sometimes, and so we definitely hope that we panic second.”

On that previous occasion, both sides were missing personnel, with the most notable for Moama being all-rounder Russell Stockdale, who made 49 last week to complement 6-29 with the ball.

Stockdale is averaging 46 with the bat in the McMahon Shield this season and will likely open again on Sunday, though his two most recent innings against BLU have seen him post lower scores of 20 and 10, albeit occurring last season.

Alongside Stockdale, BLU’s bowling attack have other threats to keep an eye on, with Moama’s Joel Murphy making 44 the last time the two sides met, hitting nine fours and being a part of a rich vein of form for the captain, who averaged 67 over his last three innings.

Murphy noted the different circumstances both sides are facing when they meet this time around.

“We're very much looking forward to having another go at it because we had a few guys out that day, they had a few guys out that day, it'll be different conditions,” he said.

“It's at Moama, we beat them earlier in the year at Moama, so we're going to be going in confident and ready to roll.”

Jack Russell could also cause a stir with the bat after he scored 48 in the Round 18 meeting, and Moama may look to him for runs from the middle order should it be required.

But the Lions have plenty of firepower themselves, both with ball and bat.

Chakabva is one of the first names on any opposition scouting report and is very capable of making high scores with the bat, most notably a knock of 125 only three weeks ago against Kyabram.

Last season he did only register scores of 4 and 1 against Moama, though as part of a less successful Lions outfit, and this season’s score of 5 not out is not particularly insightful as Chakabva wasn’t required at the crease for long.

His expertise as a wicketkeeper is well-known, and BLU’s bowlers will lean on him to deliver behind the stumps, with one of those potentially being Jeremy Felmingham, who took 4-21 last week and two wickets in the previous meeting with Moama.

Finally, Moama will be out for the major scalp of either Prateer Mehta or Kade Pearse with ball in hand, the two openers both batting sensationally in the previous meeting, recording a 193-run partnership and hitting 21 boundaries between them as Mehta made 106 not out and Pearse made 91.

Away from this specific match-up, the recent history between the two sides makes for interesting reading too.

2024 was the last year whereby the fate of both sides was intertwined, as Moama knocked out BLU in the semi-finals before going on to lose the decider to Echuca.

Elsewhere in this weekend’s Goulburn Murray Cricket action, Moama has also made the B-Goulburn Shield Grand Final on Saturday, where it will face Kyabram Fire Brigade at Gunbower Recreation Reserve.

The Flames have the opportunity to take out both B-grade titles, with Fire Brigade facing Rochester in the B-Murray Shield decider at Bamawm Recreation Reserve.

In C-grade, Echuca faces a Girgarre side at Echuca South Recreation Reserve that has made the grand final after finishing fourth in the regular season.

Echuca could take out two lower grade titles this weekend, with its D-grade outfit meeting Stanhope in the D-grade Shield Grand Final at Brose Recreation Reserve.

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Wednesday, 20th September 2028

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