AFTER 14 rounds, two semi-finals and a combined 13 wins, it comes down to one final A grade battle between Grampians and College to award the Dundas Cup for the 2022-23 season.

The Hamilton and District Cricket Association season reaches its climax with grand final day today, as premiers for three grades will be awarded today, while the A grade clash is expected to last into a second or third day.

The season decider will be played at a third different venue in as many years, with the traditional host, Melville Oval, ruled out due to a lack of grass coverage on the centre square, prompting the decider to be moved to Monivae College.

The Pumas have been the dominant force this season, earning the one-day premiership on Australia Day, and claiming the A grade minor premiership, while the Eagles have the chance to defend their Dundas Cup title from last season, albeit in a longer format this season with the return of two-day cricket.

College will go in as the underdogs and skipper, Charles Murrie said he learnt a lot from last year’s final, along with playing in the T20s and Sungold Cup earlier in the year.

“I haven’t really played all that much finals cricket, so definitely nervous how it is all going to go down,” he said.

“I am not as experienced as some of the others, Grampians seem to play off in a grand final every second year, so they know what it is all about.”

Despite going into the decider as reigning premiers, College stills feels it has unfinished.

With last year’s final played as a one-day game, the Eagles are desperate to earn victory in the longer format this time around.

“It was for the Dundas Cup last year, but we still feel like it is a bit unfulfilled, this year when it was talked about at the start of the season with weather interruption and they wanted to change the format, I am glad that a lot of clubs saw the sense to stick fat,” Murrie said.

“In hindsight, it turned out to be a really great season and it is a pleasure to get towards this end of the season and be able to play two-day cricket.

“It is great for traditionalists and I am really happy this is how it has turned out.”

Both teams go into the clash with one win against the other, with neither contest going down to the wire.

An opening round win to Grampians at Mitchell Park was followed up by a 93-run victory in the return fixture over two days in round 11.

Murrie said his team got confidence from the previous result but expects a tough contest against the minor premiers.

“I think we are one apiece with them this year and they have both gone our own respective ways in both ways,” he said.

“They have a strong and deep team and props to them, they have got some star players who have been around for years and have the experience on the big stage which will hold them in good stead.

“They have got a few youngsters they have developed and that is similar to how we go about it.”

For Grampians, today’s final has been what the team has been working towards all season and Pumas captain, Will Collins, is confident his team will rise to the occasion.

“This is what you play cricket for, we have played enough cricket already this season and having grand final experience already, the nerves are definitely there but nothing too silly,” he said.

“It’s a tough one, realistically we want to play the same sort of cricket in the two-day games that has got us this far, but with the potential to bat as long as we want, it does change things a bit.

“We will definitely talk about it, but ultimately you don’t want people to change their games and stick to what feels natural.”

Having lost just one game for the season – against College at Dunkeld Turf – the Pumas have a settled line-up and will go into the decider without any changes to last weekend’s semi-final team.

“We have been fairly settled for the past three or four which is always good leading into finals,” Collins said.

“We have a good variety of bowlers both medium, slow and spin bowlers and we are a side like College, which bats down to number 11.”

Murrie also said he expects some nerves from his team but having played in multiple big games in recent seasons, including last weekend, he has confidence in each player to play their role.

“There are nerves, I said to the boys after the semi-final that we had a few nervy moments, but I just have full faith in each of them to do their job,” he said.

“We have been on a journey at the club for the past five or so years and we have slowly built to get into this position.

“We haven’t had the most consistent season, but hopefully we can put that behind us and focus on this last one.”

With the Pumas playing the tighter semi-final, Collins said it may play into the Pumas’ advantage.

“I’d like to think maybe it goes in our favour, having a bit closer and have to fight and scrag on a tough batting wicket to get through, whereas they absolutely breezed through their semi-final,” he said.

“We had a grand final-like experience already in our semi-final.”

Both teams have quality throughout their side and most weeks there has been a different player standing up with bat and ball, making planning hard for opposition teams.

Russell Bennett had his time in the spotlight last week with a well made 95, and the evenness of both teams means there are plenty of Player of the Match candidates as well.

“Coming into last weekend, and you picked out four or five guys to stand out, Benno wouldn’t be top of the list,” he said.

“He has had a few things not go his way, but it just showed his character and there is four or five blokes I would have picked that it looked the other way, so that was impressive.”

“Henry Bensch is on fire for them with the ball, so he is someone we will have to look to negate and work through,” Collins said.

“Probably their top eight or nine have all made A grade half centuries.

“Burnsy (Adrian Burns) has made a ton this year, (Kane) Uebergang smacked a ton a couple weeks back, they just have dangerous batsmen throughout the line-up.”

With another quirk being that both captains are opening batsmen, Murrie has only recently made the move back to the top of the order after dropping down and giving opportunities to others.

The College skipper said he will likely be at the top of the order again against the Pumas.

“We will see how it comes, it has been a bit of a conditioning thing and we have tried a few things with some of the younger fellas,” he said.

“We are lucky we have a flexible seven or eight batsmen and we can throw them around and it doesn’t effect us to much.

“Heater and I seem to have a pretty good partnership up top, so more than likely we won’t change that.”

With the prospect of four long days of cricket ahead of the players, the ability to stay switched on and mentally engaged for every ball will also be critical.

That all starts with the opening batsmen, of which Collins looks at his role as more of a long-term benefit for his team.

“I don’t know if I feel extra pressure, but I definitely take on that responsibility to try and get through those early overs,” Collins said.

“I see it as helping those middle order batsmen who I see as better cricketers and stroke players as I am, my job is just to make their batting experience a little bit easier and in the past month or so, it has been going alright for me.

“You look back at the history of A grade grand finals, they are never over.

“Just because there is a first innings result, that isn’t necessarily how the game will play out come Saturday or Sunday of the second weekend.”