TURN on the lights, throw on the pads, swing for the hills and duck for cover, it’s Twenty20 time.
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Yes it’s that time of the season again where batsmen will look to unleash their inner David Warner and the bowlers will hope and pray they don’t get hit for too many when the SDCA Twenty20 competition starts with a bang tonight.
Berry-Shoalhaven Heads have set the benchmark for the last two seasons, going back to back as premiers, but they will have their work cut out trying to do it again.
They will play against North Nowra-Cambewarra, Bomaderry and Nowra in Pool B, starting off against Nowra at Nowra Showground tonight.
Both teams have been in great form in the one-dayers and while Magpies captain Kerry Penfold would love to win a third straight title, he isn’t looking too far ahead just yet.
“It would be great to win again, but we need to aim to make the semis first; then we’ll see what happens,” he said.
“We’ll just take it game by game; that seems to work pretty well for us in the Twenty 20s,” he laughed.
With such a strong pool, Penfold is well aware even making the semis will be tough, but is not fazed by Nowra’s unbeaten record.
“At the end of the day I don’t think it matters,” he said.
“You could put them as favourites and they deserve to be.
“But if we are the underdogs, I don’t mind that at all.”
In the other Pool B game, last year’s runners-up Bomaderry play host to Norths at Bomaderry Oval.
Bomaderry captain Jordan Matthews said the Twenty20s are always good fun, but the desire to win is there as well.
While Norths are yet to win a game this season, Matthews said the Twenty20 format is a very different game.
“Anything can happen in Twenty20,” he said.
“We’re in a very strong pool, so we’ll need to put in a solid effort and have a bit of luck if we’re going to win it.
“They (Norths) have some good players and as I said, anything can happen, so we definitely won’t be underestimating them.”
Pool A will see Shoalhaven Ex-Servicemen do battle with Bay and Basin at Hayden Drexel Oval, while Batemans Bay and Ulladulla United go head-to-head at Lighthouse Oval, with all games getting under way at 5pm.
