Thrilling contest for last finals spot in Geraldton men’s cricket with Towns, Wanderers locked in

Towns and Wanderers are locked in for Geraldton cricket finals, leaving the rest of the pack to scrap over one Bendigo Bank Cricket League berth with four rounds to play.

It’s hard to predict who will get to the deciders in March, and the action at the bottom of the table will be exciting.

Chapman Valley-Northampton are in third place with a moderate buffer of six points, but only have three games left — Bluff Point and Sportsmans each have five matches to come.

Sporties and the Pointers are level on points and both play twice this round while CVN have a bye, so the picture after the weekend should be clearer, at least in theory.

They meet each other on Friday night in a Young Motors T20 at Wonthella that will have plenty on the line, with both still a chance to make the T20 final against Towns on February 25.

Sporties play Towns at Wonthella in 50-over action on Saturday, while Bluff Point play Wanderers at Muir Park.

In women’s Young Motors T20, two rounds remain with Wanderers already minor premiers by a long way, regardless of what happens from here.

It’s highly likely Sportsmans will finish second and play Wanderers in the February 27 grand final on the turf pitch at Wonthella.

It’s a challenge Sporties would relish, as they are the only team to have beaten Wanderers this season. That was on another turf track, at GBSC Park.

There’s still a chance CVN could take second spot, but they would have to beat Sporties at GBSC4 on Sunday and then win their last round game, and hope Sporties lose again next week.

Even that might not be enough, but CVN have improved considerably this season — they are also coming off an excellent win and would love to spring an upset.

The other match is between Towns and Wanderers at GBSC3.

It was pleasing to see Janelle Phillips back on the field last week for Towns after a long road recovering from major shoulder surgery.

But she won’t play if it means she takes the place of someone who’s been a regular in the team, or, like last week, will only field.

Fair enough but hopefully this time she’ll have a bat — she is a very talented cricketer and Towns will need her again.

B-grade: Wan v Spo (GBSC1); CVN v Don (Nabawa); Twn v BP (Rec).