While it was the Heytesbury Rebels who sent his side packing from the semi-final at Terang Turf, Keane said the Pelicans’ batting depth would give them an edge.

“I think it will be close, but Bookaar – with their experience and slightly better batting line-up – I reckon they might just do it,” he said.

“I think (Heytesbury Rebels) have got probably a very varied bowling attack, they’ve got different sorts of bowlers – they’ve probably got as good a bowling attack as Bookaar, but I think Bookaar has probably got a bit more depth in the batting.”

The evergreen all-rounder said his fifth SWC cricketer of the year award was unexpected. He edged out Bookaar star Fraser Lucas – who won the division one batting, bowling and champion player awards – in the umpire-voted accolade.

“It was a bit of a surprise, I didn’t expect it – with Fraser Lucas having the year he had, I thought he would win it easy,” Keane said.

Keane took 24 wickets for the season, but it was his form with the bat that he was particularly pleased with.

He made 390 runs during the regular season and 58 in the semi-final loss, crediting a change in his position in the batting order for his form.

“It was probably the best I’ve ever batted, to be honest,” Keane said.

“I’m batting a bit lower down the order, so you sort of know what you’ve got to do when you go out to bat, whether you’ve got to hit some quick runs or try to dig in.

“If you’re top order, you don’t quite know what you’ve got to do sometimes. It just makes your mind a bit clearer, I reckon.”