Bathurst to meet Dubbo in yet another Western Zone Premier League grand final

Bathurst and Dubbo will meet in yet another Premier League decider at No. 1 Oval on Sunday.

Dubbo won each of its regular season matches this season to earn hosting rights for the grand final as minor premiers and Ryan pointed to that, as well as the fact he will be missing a couple of troops, as the reason his side is the underdog.

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"I put them as favourites," he said of the Marty Jeffrey-captained Dubbo side.

"Being into the finals first, their ability and being on their home deck, and we've had a bit of a change in our squad from last year with a few bowlers out and no Nic Broes.

"It's exciting, it's definitely going to be a challenge, Dubbo has earned the right to host it because they've played some good cricket.

"Last year they really threw the kitchen sink at us with probably the best squad they've had in the last three years, but this season when we played them, they had a really gritty side and were really determined to win it.

"If you're losing you have that hunger to get on board and really fight, so it's going to be a great match."

Bathurst's road to the final was anything but smooth.

When the third-round clash in November against Parkes was washed-out, there were question marks over which side would advance to the decider.

Bathurst and Parkes aimed to reschedule the match, one Bathurst had to win to leapfrog Orange into second.

But with no date available in an already busy club and representative cricket calendar, the game was declared a wash-out. It gave Bathurst enough points to advance and play for a fourth consecutive Western Zone Premier League crown.

"We wanted to try and find a space to play Parkes and we tried everything in our power with the dates, but it's hard to try and fit it in when everything is already jam-packed," Ryan explained.

"I think we deserve to be there, us beating Orange and the way we did it was in pretty good fashion, and being that we've been in the final the last few years and have been winning it the last few years, I feel like we deserve a crack at it.

"So it might be a little bit of the luck from the cricket gods, or a little bit of an advantage from the hard work we've done over time, I feel like that's paid off.

"I've had plenty of days when I've been standing in the field and we don't take a wicket for a long time ... sometimes you have the cricket gods on your side, sometimes you don't, so we're lucky we did this time.

"We've just got to make the most of it now."

Though Bathurst is the three-times defending champion, Dubbo beat Ryan's side by two wickets in their round match earlier this season.

Bathurst only made 123 in that match and while doing a good job with the ball, it highlighted what it takes it beat Dubbo.

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