DUBBO'S best side will return to the field this weekend and captain Mitch Bower said there were no excuses for his side not to win.
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In recent weeks the Dubbo Western Zone Premier League (WZPL) side has been a shadow of itself with a number of key players unavailable, for various reasons, to make trips to both Cowra and Orange.
Last weekend a makeshift Dubbo side lost at Orange but with the team now facing a do-or-die semi-final against Cowra on Sunday it is all hands back on deck.
The likes of Jordan Moran, Will Lindsay, Ryan Medley, James O'Brien, Wayne Dunlop and even new-ball bowler Ben Strachan all return this weekend.
Combine them with Bower, Greg Buckley, Mat Skinner, Stuart Naden and Mat Skinner and suddenly the Dubbo side is resembling the kind which has been a dominant force in country cricket in recent years.
And Bower fully expects them to get the job done on Sunday.
"I think we've got the best team on paper and if we perform then I don't think they are good enough to win," he said.
"We've just got to stick to our gameplan and we're confident we can win so now we've just got to go out and do it.
"No one will be dwelling on last Sunday and that was the only game we've lost this season so it's not like we're having a bad year, so we won't be caring about that too much."
Last week's loss to Orange meant Dubbo finished second, while Cowra defeated Parkes to finish third.
The winner of Sunday's match, played at the Lady Cutler Complex, will book a date in the final at Bathurst next week.
While purely focused on his own side, Bower did admit Cowra have a genuine matchwinner in star batsman Michael Curtale.
"They have a couple of batsmen scoring big runs but Curtale is the big one and if we can restrict him then we've got the batting depth to take on whatever score they put out," he said.
Bower also spoke about the players who missed out on selection despite playing the last two matches when key players were missing.
"There's four selectors and it's a hard job to pick a rep side when everyone is available at once but it's rep cricket," he said.
"You've got to pick the best side and we're trying to instill some pride back into playing for Dubbo because we're all proud of where we're from."
Sunday's semi-final begins at 10am,
o DUBBO: Mitch Bower (c), Jordan Moran, Wayne Dunlop, Greg Buckley, Will Lindsay, Ryan Medley, Stuart Naden, Ben Taylor, Ben Strachan, Mat Skinner, James O'Brien
