THEY'RE arguably the most in-form team in the Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket competition at the right time of the season.
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With a Bonnor Cup title and a pair of wins over fellow BOIDC finalists in the past month St Pat's Old Boys are looking set for a big showing in this Sunday's semi-final.
But just one question remains: Who will they play at Morse Park 1 this weekend?
It's rare to enter a finals weekend not knowing who your opponent will be but that's what the situation will be for the Saints as they await the winner of Saturday's elimination final between Orange City and City Colts.
However, Saints skipper Adam Ryan sees it as one less thing to be distracted about before a crucial game.
"It allows us to just focus on our own game and keep focused on our own strengths," he said.
"We want to really take that mentality into all our finals games, really."
Pat's missed out on a top two spot, which would have guaranteed a second chance if they team was defeat, but they at least get to conserve themselves - a luxury not afford to those who finished below them on the ladder.
"It would have been great to finish top two, and have a bit more control over the situation, but third is the card that's been dealt and that's how we've got to play it," Ryan said.
"At least it keeps us super fresh as opposed to having to play on Saturday. With the rep stuff that's been on lately, it can take a fair bit of energy to stay up after the game the day before."
Pat's are the only team to have beaten minor premiers Cavaliers twice this season (once in BOIDC and once in the Bonnor Cup final), although last week's latest success didn't have any ramifications on the ladder.
Ryan still puts stock into that victory and believes it was important for the side to continue giving 100 per cent effort in order to give themselves a great platform to build off for their finals campaign.
"Momentum is a big thing going into the finals, and that's something that we spoke about before the Bonnor Cup final. We were coming off two losses going into that game," he said.
"We played into the excuse that we had people out but we should have still been playing our best cricket, and we didn't in those games. We gave ourselves no excuses once everyone was back. We needed our best cricket and to not be complacent.
"To do that and then knock over Orange City and Cavs twice, as well as Rugby Union in the other Bonnor Cup game, gave us some great momentum and confidence for the finals, knowing that we've beaten the sides above us on the ladder."
Pat's have seen a number of different contributors step up to ensure their passage to the semi-finals.
Matt Fearnley finished on top of the wicket takers list (24) for the regular season and Connor Slattery (19) was close behind.
In the batting stakes Nic Broes, Cooper Brien and Bailey Brien all finished inside the top 14 for most runs scored while Slattery finished with the competition's best average (54.5) over his seven innings.
In another encouraging statistic for St Pat's, they are also three wins from the three completed games that they've played on Morse Park 1 this season.
Sunday's 50-over game at Morse Park 1 will start at 11am.
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