Geraldton cricket round 12 preview: Sportsmans fight to hold off Bluff Point from finals berth

The 2023-24 Geraldton Bendigo Bank Cricket season is entering the home stretch, with the last qualifying game of the Young Motors T20 Series on Friday night at Wonthella where Sportsmans face Bluff Point.

The Pointers, after a good showing last week in a 50-over game against Wanderers, should be buoyant. Mitch McAuliffe needs six wickets for 200 in A-grade and Antonio Paradella wants two for 50.

Sportsmans, third in the standings, need to win to lock in third place on the ladder (the top three play finals).

But if they lose on Friday and again on Saturday against top side Wanderers, Sportsmans risk losing third spot to the Pointers — provided the latter beat them on Friday and win against Chapman Valley-Northampton on Saturday.

For Sportsmans, Simon Evans needs one wicket for 150 while Aaron McAuliffe, still a potential game-changer, will play his 100th innings.

Saturday’s 50-over game between Bluff Point and CVN at Muir Park is enticing as the two sides are well matched.

CVN’s Hayden Dawson and Nigel Routledge need 16 and 32 runs respectively to reach 3000 while veteran Toby Johnson and Zak Williamson are both one wicket short of 50.

The other 50-over game is at GBSC Park where Wanderers meet Sportsmans. Wanderers haven’t had too many problems with Sporties in three previous games this summer.

In women’s Young Motors Cup T20 games, the top two, Wanderers and Sporties, meet in a night game on Saturday at Wonthella.

They are destined to meet in the grand final so it is an important game, especially for Sporties who compete well with Wanderers but have yet to find the formula to beat them.

For Wanderers, Olivia Bidwell needs one wicket for 50 while Meg Spalding needs 73 runs for 1000 and Abby Green needs 12 for 500. For Sporties, Stacey Jerrard needs one wicket for 25.

The other match is on Sunday between CVN and Towns. Towns has won only one game this season and that was against CVN the last time they clashed.

For CVN, Kylie Bremner will play her 50th innings while Towns’ Ruth Vorster is four wickets from 50.

B-grade: Dongara v CVN at Dongara; Sportsmans v Wanderer at Wonthella; Towns v BP at Rec Gd.