Melville to tak on juggernaut

Scarborough go in to this week's SmokeFree WA League First-Grade Final at Lilac Hill Park as firm favourites against a close-knit Melville combination.

The Gulls' two decisive final performances so far have done nothing to alleviate this favouritism. Victories over a strong Midland-Guildford (8 wickets) and Wanneroo (113 runs) have them going into the final in good form.

Melville also have truly earned their opportunity, scoring over 230 in their finals opposed to the penetrating bowling line-ups of Subiaco-Floreat and Bayswater-Morley. Performances indicate it is this area where Melville's best hopes lie.

Under Coach's Paul Terry's tutorage, Melville have developed one of the most consistent and deepest batting line-ups in the competition, scoring the third-most batting points this season and second-highest last season. Melville will also be buoyed by their Round-12 victory over Scarborough when they scored 276 against an attack which included Matthew Nicholson and Kade Harvey.

In the same game they bowled Scarborough out for 145, with state players Ryan Campbell, Michael Dighton and Rob Baker missing from the line-up. If Melville can make early breakthroughs of these key players, they will take strides towards their first premiership since 1979-80.

They will look towards Dimitri Mascarenhas (34 wickets @ 14.06) and speedster Paul Roe (9 wickets @ 20.22) for these breakthroughs. This will prove a daunting task given that Harvey, Dighton and Baker have already recorded centuries in this finals series.

Brad Williams' express pace will cause problems for the Melville batsmen. He has created difficulties for all players in the finals in his short but aggressive bowling spells. Conjecture reigns as to whether Matthew Nicholson will recover from a pulled shoulder muscle in time for the match. If not Kade Harvey, Richard Daly and spinners Rob Baker and Beau Casson will have increased workloads.

Baker has taken 7 wickets already in these finals and will maintain pressure established by the openers.