WHEN the Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade grand final takes place this weekend it's going to pit many representative teammates against one another.
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In fact, nine of the 12 players who won the President's Cup final as part of the Bathurst district side will be among BDCA grand final sides City Colts and St Pat's Old Boys this weekend.
That fact makes it impossible for players to hide their weaknesses during the biggest weekend of the season.
Colts and Saints' respective captains, Matt Stephen and Adam Ryan, have spent years together in a representative capacity but will face off as rivals once again.
Stephen had a powerful Colts trio of Henry Shoemark, Dave Henderson and Jaden Ekert as teammates in the champion Bathurst President's Cup side while Ryan was accompanied by the star junior class of Mitch Taylor, Nic Broes, Connor Slattery and Tanvir Singh.
"We had a few blokes in that team and they did too. It will be a tug-o-war, I have no doubt about that, and we will just have to play it as we see it," Stephen said of this weekend's decider.
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"Once you pull on your club shirt there's no friends out there until after the game. When you cross that line you're there to do the best job you can for your 10 other teammates and your club.
"At the end of the game we'll sit down and have a beer with them, no drama."
Ryan said his representative troops may lack the years of experience on their Colts rivals but it's not like they've been short on match time.
"There's probably three or four boys in this team who have played probably 50 games of cricket across the season, and some with 30 or 40," he said.
"I know they're still quite young and can feel the pressure of playing in big matches but I'm hoping with the amount of games they've had that they'll know their game inside and out.
"The biggest variable I wish I could control is the weather. It's like going to the fridge looking for a snack all the time, but I'm checking the forecast four, five times a day wondering 'Has it come down from 90 per cent chance of rain on Friday'."
Neither City Colts or St Pat's have had the opportunity to play club cricket on George Park 1 this season.