The Bulls capped off an undefeated run through the South West Cricket Association’s twenty20 competition with a four-run victory over Bookaar on Saturday. 

But captain Grant Place quickly shifted his focus to preparing his side for the annual inter-association cricket tournament, which runs the day after Australia Day. 

The 28-year-old was confident he had the players at his disposal to follow in the footsteps of Mortlake and win the tournament.

“We have seen this year especially with a few guys coming from Geelong back to the club and the two Sri Lankan guys (Lahiru Fernando and Tharaka Sendanayake) that our depth in batting and mainly bowling has been key for us this year,” he said.

“Going off Mortlake last year they have proven our league is good enough to win it down there and fingers crossed we can go one further and get the chocolates ourselves.”

The Bulls’ successful Saturday began with a 34-run victory over Heytesbury in the semi-final, while Bookaar booked its spot in final by defeating Mortlake.

Fernando 3-20 and  Sendanayake 2-21 did the damage with the ball to restrict the Pelicans to 97 from 18 overs in the grand final.

Sendanayake (33 not out) then guided the Bulls through a difficult run chase, which ended with a boundary on the first ball of the last over, to book their ticket to the Sungold Cup.  

Fernando was named player of the series after scoring 190 runs (average of 38) and taking 14 wickets from his nine games in the tournament. 

Place praised his star leg-spinning import after strong showings in the semi-final and decider.

“Both games (on Saturday) Lahiru has proven to be very difficult to play and not too many guys can pick his leg-spinners,” the right-handed batsman said. 

“He is going for minimal runs and he is a really threatening wicket-taker and he has been pretty crucial.”

The Sungold Cup quarter-finals are at Dennington and Davidson Oval on January 20.