ONE team will be looking to ram home their advantage and try to secure first position on the competition ladder, while the other will be fighting for its very life at Morse Park 1 this afternoon.
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Bathurst City are on the cusp of a remarkable undefeated regular season campaign with two rounds remaining, though a couple of personnel changes could have an impact as they take on a desperate ORC team.
The Tigers are 12 points adrift of fourth-placed Rugby Union, who have a match against out-of-form Blayney starting this afternoon at King George VI Oval.
If ORC lose today and Rugby win, ORC’s chances of a finals berth are kaput.
If both lose, ORC will need to win outright over Blayney in the final round – Rugby have a bye – to force their way in.
It makes for an interesting match-up today, but one in which Redbacks deserve to start heavy favourites.
“We got some bad news before the last game with Shabbir Dhamani leaving town, which leaves us without one of the best all-rounders in the competition,” Redbacks captain Matt Willis said.
“We are also without Matt Lawson for this game. It is no secret how well he has been bowling and you can’t just replace someone in the sort of form he’s been in.
“But our attack has had contributors aside from him all season – Ben and Adam Orme are both in good nick, Jarrod Urza took five wickets last weekend, Trent Hemsworth has been bowling well. We’ve got good depth there.
“Going through a regular season undefeated would be something to be very proud of, and I don’t know that a team has done it around here before – not for a while, at least. But we’re only worried about what happens when the finals start.
“ORC have a lot to play for, so we can’t underestimate them.”
Tigers captain Trent Fitzpatrick said that his badly undermanned side did well to compete as much as they did for the first two innings of their match against Rugby last weekend before things started to fall apart when batting a second time.
He knows they need to lift, but a few changes will help.
“We were all over the place with our side last weekend; 184 wasn’t that bad a score and I thought we bowled quite well aside from during Sam Macpherson’s early hitting where we got caught off guard a little bit,” he said.
“To be 9-75 in the second innings wasn’t acceptable no matter who is in your side, but we had a long tail, a debutant in Ricky Webb opening, I was out second ball of the innings, so we didn’t do ourselves any favours.
“Andrew Best should be on deck for both days of this match, so too Mick Fardon. We get Jacob Bognuda back on day two, the Sellers boys [Wayne and Dave] as well. It makes a big difference.
“Mark Day also put his hand up for a recall. He smashed a brilliant hundred in second grade last weekend, so it’s a good option to be able to call on him.
“I don’t see Redbacks as having any weakness that we can target, but it is good news for us that Matt Lawson isn’t there. He’s had some good days against us. Shabbir not being there won’t hurt either. We have to win, that’s how simple it is.”
