Elliot Stevenson
University and Kingborough are set to do battle in an epic three-day Grand Final at Ninja Stadium as the CTPL reaches its crescendo for another season.
Kingborough came into the finals series as the form side in the competition, having won seven consecutive red-ball games in a run that spanned January, February, and early March, with the last game it lost coming against Uni in a T20 semi-final in December.
The Knights finished 33 points clear on top of the ladder and saw off a gallant New Town last weekend to secure their place in the decider.
On the other hand, University, despite its irresistible start to the season, somewhat limped into second place.
Any doubt surrounding the Lions was short lived however, as they dismantled Greater Northern in a semi-final to ensure they would meet Kingborough this weekend for a chance at a third premiership of season 2024-25.
It would be the first time since Lindisfarne in 2019-20 that a club would win all three available men’s first grade premierships.
Uni coach Ben Hilfenhaus isn’t understating what a triple premiership season would do for the club but insists it’s foremost about winning a game of cricket.
“It would obviously mean quite a bit to the club,” he said.
“It’s the sort of thing you think about, but you don’t really know the impacts of it until it potentially happens.
“First things first we need to concentrate on winning a game of cricket, and we’ll address the impacts of what that is at the end of it.”
With a host of first-class talent at its disposal, including recent Emerson Rodwell Medallist and captain Param Uppal, University will pull no punches against the 2024-25 Club Championship winners Kingborough.
The Lions’ recent dip in form has coincided with Uppal’s lack of runs over the past month, a pattern he would surely love to dispel this weekend.
Despite not being at his usual standard with the bat, his wicket-taking wizardry has continued.
Uppal took 7/36 off 24 overs last time Uni faced Kingborough and sits third on the wicket’s leaderboard for the competition, averaging 13.69.
Hilfenhaus says his side are not changing their usual approach to the game but will respect Kingborough and the danger it possesses through players such as Nivethan Radhakrishnan, Zac Curtain, and Tom Martyn.
“We’ll just keep our preparation very similar to what we usually do,” he said.
“We won’t change it up too much, we’ll just prepare like we do just about every game.
“As far as gameplans go, we just need to identify a few of their key players that we need to get on top of early and just control what we can control.
“We just make sure that we play our best cricket, and we know our best cricket will be good enough.”
Kingborough has the unique opportunity to win the two-day premiership in back-to-back seasons, a feat that has not been achieved this decade, but will need to do so without superstars Beau Webster and Jake Weatherald.
Uni will have their full contingent of stars however, with Jake Doran, Tim Ward, Brad Hope and Paddy Dooley all set to appear.
The game will be played from Friday to Sunday at Ninja Stadium, as the two longtime rivals go face-to-face in the CTPL’s final act for season 2024-25