The equation is simple, win and either Northern Suburbs or Thornton Park progress to one of the most open Maitland first grade cricket finals series in years.
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Lose and it will be stumps on a season which promised a lot but failed to deliver in the end.
It’s a scenario Thornton skipper Ricky Dent and his Norths opposite Josh Callinan are embracing with enthusiasm, although their form going into the one-day encounter at Thornton 1 could not be more contrasting.
Norths have five victories on the trot in a must-win series of games which kept what seemed an unlikely tilt at the finals alive.
Only Kurri Weston with six wins has better form. They have secured second spot behind United with Western Suburbs to finish third or fourth depending on results.
After a solid start, weather and the draw left Thornton without cricket for six weeks, including all of January.
When they finally returned to action they faced top-two sides City United and Kurri-Weston for losses.
“I’ve been happy with our bowling effort, but our batsmen have let us down,” Dent said. “We’ve been guilty of not concentrating and trying to force things with a rash shot when we’ve got tied down instead of playing through sensibly.
“We just need to concentrate through the innings and each make a contribution.”
Dent said Thornton would have a full-strength line-up, with the exception of Matthew Gabriel.
“I back our bowlers to be able to defend a reasonable score, it’s up to the batsmen to set it,” he said.
Callinan said Norths had virtually been playing semi-finals every week in 2016.
“Our batsmen and bowlers have all been showing some good form. We’ve had to win each week to get ourselves to this position,” Callinan said. “It’s a good spot to be in as we really can only focus on this week. It’s a one-dayer so we know at the end of the day what our fate is.
“We are expecting a tough game Ricky (Dent) has done a great job with his boys. Whoever gets through is in the mix as apart from Kurri Weston, with six wins, and I suppose us everyone else’s form has been up and down.
Norths will strengthen its squad with the inclusion of Terry Humphreys.
In the other fixtures Wests play Raymond Terrace and Eastern Suburbs face City. Kurri Weston has the bye.