Motivated Geyser aim to be on boil in final

BATTLE IN STORE: Rotorua's two best reserve-grade teams, Central and Geyser 1, will meet today in the final of their cricket competition. Pictured is Geyser 1 batsman Kane Vanner this season.PHOTO/FILE

Geyser Cricket Club have a point to prove in the senior reserve-grade cricket grand final today.

Central Cricket Club and Geyser 1 will contest the Rotorua/Taupo finale at Boord Park today.

The semifinals were rained out last weekend, meaning top-ranked sides Central and Geyser 1 advanced to the grand final.

The MetService tipped better weather in Rotorua this afternoon, which hopefully would see a result reached between two proud clubs.

Geyser 1 captain Matt Collier said there was plenty of motivation for his team leading into the game at 1pm.

"We want a premier side in three seasons. So we want to show Rotorua that Geyser is a club going places and a force to be reckoned with and the first step in doing that is winning Saturday," he said.

Some of the Geyser players, including himself, had played for Central so a good rivalry was there, Collier said.

"The big one for us is the competition after Christmas, but going into Christmas we want to get a roll on and we would like to win both ideally."

Central captain Sam Gordon said his players were pumped for the match and hoped they would put up a strong challenge.

"I think we will put up a good fight. I know Geyser have some good players and some good batsmen, so we can't really give away any free runs," he said.

"We will have to be tight with our bowling and will have to take our catches."

The two grand-final clubs have been impressive this season, Geyser 1 particularly good with the bat.

The club have posted first inning scores of 236 and 210 this year and easily chased down a score of 174 in round three.

Meanwhile, Central have been stringent with their bowling figures this season and will look to cause problems for the Geyser batting line-up.

"We have got some good young bowlers who have done well all season and we have managed to restrict teams," Gordon said.

"We have been chasing low totals like 112 and 120 and so on."

The pre-Christmas, 40-over competition will also see Taupo Wanderers and Taupo Old Boys battle it out for third place today in Taupo.

The two clubs will feel a bit hard done by after not getting a chance last weekend to win a spot in the big one, but still have plenty to play for in the derby match.

In the other games, John Paul College will be up against Taupo Combined Colleges in Taupo and the Geyser 2 team will meet Eastern Pirates at Boord Park 3.

Rotorua/Taupo senior reserve-grade draw today (games start at 1pm):

Title match: Central v Geyser 1, Boord Park 2; Third-place match: Taupo Wanderers v Taupo Old Boys; John Paul College v Taupo Combined Colleges; Geyser 2 v Eastern Pirates; Rotorua Indians bye.