Come what may, St Albans will provide the most fascinating story line for the rest of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association’s North A1 season.
The Saints’ players will need to embrace the pressure that will come in the lead-up to the finals because there is no way to avoid the statistic that has followed their club’s every move in recent summers.
Five losing semi-finals (and a sudden-death draw) over the past eight seasons have been an enormous burden for the team to carry.
It was a stain on an otherwise successful era for the Saints.
In 88 regular season games over that span, the Saints won 49, lost just 30 and drew nine, a 55 per cent winning and 65 per cent unbeaten percentage.
But in five finals games, that ugly 0 per cent winning record contaminates the other gaudy stats.
The Saints’ last finals win came in the 2006-07 finals series, when they beat Westmeadows in a semi-final classic before going on to lose the grand final against Williamstown CYMS.
There will be cynics out there who believe the Saints’ destiny might already be written, but not club president Ian MacKenzie.
He did not hide from talking about the semi-final slip-ups, painful though they were.
He used history as a timely reminder for his players to be prepared to work in the lead-up to March.
There is a different vibe around St Albans this season.
You get the sense the Saints are ready to shrug the monkey off the back.
They are well placed, having entered the new year on top of the ladder with the only blemish coming in round one. They extended their unbeaten run to six games on Saturday, comfortably accounting for Avondale Heights by 56 runs at Kings Park Reserve.
“So far it’s been really good,” MacKenzie told
Star Weekly.
“It’s nice to be where we are and I’d rather be there instead of fifth or sixth, but we’ve got a lot of work to do yet.
“We have to knuckle down and perform as we did pre-Christmas.”
On paper, St Albans is better placed for a premiership tilt this season.
The key inclusions of all-rounders George Wells and Geeth Alwis give the Saints a harder edge in both departments.
The overseas imports have been outstanding this season, with Wells averaging 60 with the bat and an economical 13 with the ball, while Alwis, who missed the second half of last season with a broken finger, has a seven-wicket haul and a century to his name.
The Saints just wanted to add a bit of star power to a largely homegrown list and it could be the tonic to get over that semi-final hoodoo.
“We’ve always been competitive with the group that we had,” MacKenzie said.
“What we tried to do was support the boys in the club who have been with us for a lot of years and give them more depth.
“You win premierships with your seven, eight and nine, not your first, second and third.”
The Saints will face Merlynston-Hadfield in a one-day game away at Hallam Reserve on Saturday.
