How’s your short game? Bluff Point and Sportsmans even money for tonight's T20 shoot-out

Bluff Point and Sportsmans head into Friday night’s Young Motors T20 final at Wonthella with no clear favourite as the Pointers hope to end a 36-year premiership drought. It’s the event’s eighth edition with Sportsmans aiming to replicate wins in 2016-17 and 2018-19. The Pointers have never won a T20 title but success has also eluded them in any men’s competition since taking out A-grade in 1986-87. Of more immediate concern for Pointers captain Jay O’Brien, is his team has lost four of their past five games after looking like they were threatening Towns for the minor premiership That includes a T20 loss to Sportsmans two weeks ago in a seven-wicket thumping where they were rolled for just 57. “We definitely haven’t performed to standards we set pre-Christmas probably because we’ve gotten a little lazy at training and I expect us to bounce back strongly from tonight,” O’Brien said. “We should have a full team to select from and I’ll be sticking with players who have got us to this stage and shown the right attitude.” Their batting has been found wanting in recent weeks but Carl Shilling and Aaron Thomas are both dangerous while Shilling and Antoni Paradella are the main threats with ball in hand. Though inconsistent this season, Sportsmans has been at their best in T20s with just one loss. “We’ve played well in patches but in cricket, you need to play well for a long time in games, not just in bursts which is probably why we’ve done better in the shorter T20s,” captain Clint Yeates said. “But we have some great cricketers, including some good young ones, and should have a full list to choose from.” Yeates himself is one of the best with a bat while Jarrod Jupp and Aaron McAuliffe are two of the best all-rounders in the league. The game will start around 6.15pm after the Under-17’s T20 final. There is also 50-over cricket on Saturday with Wanderers and Bluff Pt at GBSC1 to be a crucial match with the winner looking to book a finals spot. The Sportsmans and Chapman Valley-Northampton game at Wonthella is critical for Sporties to keep their slim finals hopes alive. B-grade: Twn v Wan (Rec); CVN v Don (Mazz); and BP v Spo (Muir).