IF WEATHER doesn’t interfere with the first day of round 13 of the Swan Hill District Cricket Association season tomorrow, the match to watch will be played at Woorinen.
The home side will host Nyah District in a game between two finals-bound sides that is sure to interest fans.
Other matches see Ultima TUF hosting St Mary’s Tyntynder, Lakers taking on Swan Hill at Boga and RSL up against Tooleybuc Manangatang in Swan Hill.
Woorinen v Nyah District
BOTH Woorinen and Nyah District will play a big role in this summer’s two-day finals series.
This round’s game will be an interesting hit-out between two strong sides.
Woorinen captain Glenn Violi said he’d seen some pleasing improvement in his team in recent weeks.
“We’ve been playing more consistently in the last couple of weeks,” he said.
With a “pretty tight top four or five”, Violi said the next few matches would be crucial.
And he expected his team to be keen to perform against Nyah.
“There’s probably a bit of history there I suppose. Nyah have been one of the better teams in the last few years, so it’s always a good game to see where you’re at,” he said.
Woorinen will welcome back young quick Jake Schmidt this week, with the opening bowler a “good inclusion” according to Violi.
“Other than that there’s not going to be many differences at this stage,” he said.
Violi said Nyah District was an even team.
“They probably don’t have any weaknesses, it will take our best to match it with them,” he said.
For Nyah District captain Shane Fleming signs have also been pretty positive since Christmas, despite last week’s first innings loss to Swan Hill.
“We had a pretty poor game on the weekend and we can’t get away from that,” he said.
“But we still feel we’ve got one of the better sides going around, our best is good enough to match it with any side.”
Fleming said Nyah’s batting needed to improve on last week’s performance.
“((Last week)) there was a failure to build partnerships, a failure to consolidate after losing wickets and we just gave away too many cheap wickets,” he said.
“We need more contributors.”
Fleming envisaged a couple of forced changes but didn’t expect a very different team from what Nyah has fielded most of the season.
“Generally speaking our squad will remain fairly similar… We’ve had a similar team each week,” he said.
Fleming said while the two sides have been rivals in recent seasons the game was important in the context of the season.
“Every game’s important now. Within our team there’ll be pressure for spots come finals time,” he said.
Like Violi, Fleming said he couldn’t pinpoint specific weaknesses in the opposition.
“They’re very well drilled. It’s really hard for them to exploit any weaknesses,” he said.
Ultima TUF v St Mary’s Tyntynder
ANY remaining chance Ultima TUF has of making the finals is on the line this round when it hosts St Mary’s Tyntynder.
The loss to Woorinen last week must have been disheartening given the genuine chance UTUF appeared to have of claiming first innings points at the halfway mark of the match.
UTUF’s Andy Abbott said his side needed to lift, particularly with emphasis on its batting.
“Runs, batting… Forming partnerships and batting out the overs ((will be vital)),” he said.
Abbott said Shane Ingram might return to UTUF’s A grade side this week, but other changes were unlikely.
He said exploiting St Mary’s inexperience could be helpful for the home side.
“They’re a bit green… So if we can contain their energy we might be able to get on top,” he said.
Lakers v Swan Hill
SWAN Hill will be a clear favourite for a big win over Lakers at Lake Boga in this round.
The visitors will go into the match knowing that a win will strengthen their claim on a top four spot.
Lakers are languishing in seventh spot with six points for the season, while the fourth-placed Swan Hill will look to push an advantage tomorrow before taking on RSL in the one-day final on Sunday.
If it is able to achieve an outright win, Swan Hill will gain plenty of momentum towards the semi-finals. For Lakers the end of the season can’t come soon enough.
RSL v Tooleybuc Manangatang
TOP team RSL is unlikely to have too many troubles with bottom side Tooleybuc Manangatang this round.
The form of the two sides is in direct contrast. RSL’s season has gone from strength to strength and while it prepares for the Kookaburra Cup final on Sunday, it is also in prime spot ahead of the two-day semi-finals.
The side has built momentum through the season and is arguably premiership favourite in both forms of the game.
Tooleybuc Manangatang on the other hand has been unable to register a win so far this summer.
An upset against RSL would be great for the club as it winds down towards the end of the season, but it’s an unlikely prospect.
