Saints won the 2019 decider by 23 runs over Orange City, before losing the 2020 final to Cavaliers by five runs.

Bulldogs are the reigning Bonnor Cup champions, having defeated Orange City by 29 runs in a thrilling 2021 decider.

Saints skipper Adam Ryan had hoped he could've played Bulldogs in the decider but said Friday night's semi-final will still be a special occasion.

"I would've liked to meet them in the final, which would've been special but it'll still be a special and fun time on Friday night," he said.

READ MORE:

Saints have three major outs - Connor Slattery, Andrew Brown and marquee Jacob Hill - but Ryan is still feeling confident about his team's chances.

"We'll have a couple of major outs. We haven't really had a settled squad for the Bonnor Cup this season," he said.

"We're close to full strength but we'll be missing Connor [Slattery], he's away on holidays.

"Another that'll hurt and see how we navigate is Browny [Andrew Brown]. He's done a really good job opening for us. It's his young one's first birthday, so he'll be away.

"One of our marquees in Jacob Hill is also away, so there'll be three that won't be there this Friday but we've got a bit of depth.

"In recent weeks when people have been out, it's exciting for other people to step up and get more game time.

"I'm really excited to see how Derryn Clayton and Angus Parsons will go, two players that haven't really featured as much in the Twenty20."

When Ryan's men won the Bonnor Cup final in 2019, Jameel Qureshi was the Saints' marquee but on Friday night he'll be wearing the colours of the Bulldogs.

"They've definitely got some good players," Ryan said on his team's chances.

"It's going to be a really good contest, especially as Jameel was our marquee when we won it a few years back. There's going to be some good friendly banter, a bit of sledging."

Saints finished top of

The winner on Friday night's match will progress to the final, with the other semi-final to feature Orange City and Cavaliers the following Friday night on February 25.

Interestingly, all four semi-finals are the same teams currently occupying the four positions in the Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket competition.

"It's interesting how things like that happen, especially with all the rain at the start of the season, especially in the Bonnor," Ryan said.

"I think we only got two games in and some teams might have got even less in.

"It goes to show that those four are the teams playing well at the moment and it's good to see them all in the finals."

Friday night's match between St Pat's Old Boys and Rugby Union is set to get underway from Wade Park at 6.30pm.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: