At the start of the 2018-19 season, Port Stephens was widely tipped by opponents to be competitive but likely to finish on the bottom of Maitland first grade cricket ladder.
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Five rounds from the semi-finals the Pythons are on 29 points just one point outside the top four and along with Thornton are the form side of the competition.
Port was the only team to get a result in the round before Christmas beating Eastern Suburbs and has won the two games after the break, accounting for Raymond Terrace in the local derby and North Suburbs in a two-dayer at King Park 5.
Victory in Saturday’s one-day game at home against Kurri Weston would see them take fourth spot, behind the winner of the clash between Western Suburbs and Northern Suburbs who are both on 30 points.
Port will be without star batsman Jarred Moxey for the next month, but they have shown in recent weeks that they can share the burden with the bat.
They also have one of the competition’s leading bowlers in Jason Eveleigh who is second among the leading wicket-takers with 21 scalps including bags of 6-19 and 5-8 from his last two games.
Prior to the Christmas break the prediction on the result would have been Kurri Weston by how far, but they have stumbled twice at home in their past two games losing winnable matches against Easts and most recently City United.
A loss on Saturday would see them drop out of the top four for the first time season and leave question marks over whether they are biggest challenge to City United for this year’s title.
City are 10 points clear on top of the table and keep on winning games they need to. They should account for reigning premiers Raymond Terrace at Jack Collins Oval on Saturday.
However, the Lions returned to winning form in the Hunter Valley Cup Twenty20 finals on Sunday and skipper Steve Smith is hopeful it will carry over to the regular competition.
Wests and Norths have both had fluctuating form throughout the season and their clash at Coronation Oval could prove pivotal in their fortunes for the remainder of the season.
Both on 30 points, the victor will stay in the top four irrespective of results in other games, but a loss could see them start to lose contact with the top four.
Thornton should be too strong at home for Eastern Suburbs. The Griffins are in good form, but this is exactly the type of game Thornton must win if they are to challenge for the 2018-19 title.
