They\u2019re fresh from knocking off the top team, they\u2019re locked into finals, and they\u2019re playing some exciting cricket \u2013 it\u2019s a good time to be a Magpie.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Pies are up and about after downing Rovers United Bruck to secure their place in the postseason, sitting third overall as the A grade competition rolls into the final round of the home and away season.<\/p>\n
Thanks to their superior net run rate of 0.809, the mathematical what-ifs which would see them miss the top four have now been pushed into pure absurdity.<\/p>\n
Benalla Bushrangers and Ovens Valley United would need to completely hammer their opponents \u2013 Yarrawonga Mulwala and RUB, respectively \u2013 by more than 200 runs, or chase a total in less than 10 overs, all while the \u2018Pies would need to essentially be knocked over for a single digit score.<\/p>\n
That is the only situation the Magpies could miss finals \u2013 mathematically possible, technically, but completely in the realms of fantasy.<\/p>\n
Magpies skipper Cooper Matheson said after a roller coaster of a year, it was good to be assured of a place in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cVibes are high at the moment, it\u2019s good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve missed out on a lot of games, it\u2019s been a very on-and-off season so it would\u2019ve been pretty easy for some blokes to throw in the towel, especially with how dominant footy is nowadays.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re playing not many games of cricket, blokes could\u2019ve easily thought \u2018stuff it\u2019 and kept doing footy, but to be in the position we are, it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still want to put a good performance out on the track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their opponents this weekend, Beechworth Wanderers, will be sure to put up a fight despite their lacklustre season to date.<\/p>\n
The Wanderers have not won a game since 15 November, but with their experienced outfit and some talented youngsters, they\u2019re not a pushover.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing in after Christmas, I thought Beechworth were going to be a top two, top three side,\u201d Matheson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely still think they\u2019re a very good cricket side, they\u2019ve just not been playing their best brand of cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won\u2019t go in thinking it\u2019s going to be an easy win by any means, we\u2019ll still have to work very hard for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The weekend will be a test for the Magpies\u2019 lauded import players, who have qualified to play finals, in particular Harkaran Mann.<\/p>\n
After smashing 71 off 64 and 34 off 41 in his first two outings, the Canadian has made a five-ball duck and a one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be good for him to come into some form, he\u2019s a very capable cricketer and he\u2019s pretty disappointed in his own game,\u201d Matheson said of Mann.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019ll be ready to try and make a statement this week, so will Akhil [Kumar].<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve both played pretty good cricket at times – everyone in the club and especially themselves, they know the damage they can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we can see some of that on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Magpies take on Beechworth Wanderers at Baarmutha Park from 12.30pm on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019re fresh from knocking off the top team, they\u2019re locked into finals, and they\u2019re playing some exciting cricket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-519911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}