Burnside beat Lancaster Park by five wickets on Sunday in the final of the one-day portion of the OEM Audio men’s premiership – their second win in the last three seasons.
Captain Matt Hay said the team has had to shift their attention quickly.
“We’ve got two rounds to go and we’ve got a wee bit of a buffer at the top there.
“I guess the focus changed pretty quickly into making sure we finish the season well.”
Burnside hold a 15-point lead over Lancaster Park in the two-day standings with two rounds left, spanning four weeks.
Hay said they were staying relaxed ahead of the run-in to the end of the season.
“We’ve got a pretty young group of guys who just enjoy playing cricket, and the good thing with the youth I guess is they probably don’t look too far ahead and they just really enjoy playing and training and ripping in.”
“It would be very, very special for us,” said Hay. “We are aware of, I suppose, what it means for the club and what place it would have in the club’s history to be able to do that.’’
The first team standing in their way is East Shirley, who they will clash with over the next two Saturdays in the first of their last two games.Easts are only sixth in the two-day standings but Hay said they’ll pose a strong threat.
“Yeah, (they’re) always a tough opponent, no matter how they’re going in a competition.
“They’re always up for a fight and a very competitive side, so we know we’ve got to be good this weekend and they’re not going to give us anything.
“We’ll just have to rip in and try and put them under pressure.”
Other games this round see second-placed Lancaster Park look to keep the pressure on when they visit Old Boys Collegians, currently fifth, at Elmwood Park.
Lancaster Park scraped a draw in their match against Burnside last Saturday, holding on for 69 overs on the second day and surviving being eight wickets down.
OBC’s match with St Albans was curtailed by pitch issues meaning only one day’s play was possible, leading to no result.
Heathcote host St Albans this weekend at Heathcote Domain, after coming close to forcing a come-from-behind victory against Sydenham, trailing after the first innings but coming one wicket short of bowling Sydenham out well short of their target.
Sydenham will pick themselves up and take on Merivale-Papanui at Sydenham Park, who are still searching for their first win of the competition.
