KAROONDA hosts Monarto out in the sticks this Saturday and I sense an upset.
The Magpies were ordinary last week and suffered a big loss to Tailem Bend, but so too were Monarto, who were defeated by an Imperial side full of ring-ins.
Monarto have been one of the form sides of the competition this season but a few cracks began to appear last week.
Ty Pfeiffer made an impressive century but apart from him the rest of the batsmen were below par with young Jacob Rance (38) the only other shining light. The crouching tiger “Wombat” Matthews returns this week and he will bolster their batting.
The Black Caps have lost spinner Alex Pfeiffer for the season and they will miss his variation with the ball.
Their bowling has a bit of depth though, however the real concern for Monarto is the form of Harry Webb.
Webb has not taken a wicket in his past eight matches, he is down on confidence and is no longer backing his own ability.
There is nothing Luke Hocking and Rhys Bullard would like more then to keep Webb down and if this happens the rest of Monarto’s bowling will be affected.
Karoonda’s problem is their batting falls away a fair bit after the star pair mentioned above, with only Nick Norman and the Koch brothers the only others showing anything so far this season.
But if Karoonda can string a few partnerships together and get on top of the Monarto bowling they are in with a red-hot chance.
Ty Pfeiffer’s wicket is the key for the Magpies, he is in pretty good nick at the moment and if Karoonda can get him early I reckon they can get up in this one and keep their finals hopes alive.
Mypolonga v Jervois
It’s Aaron Zrim’s favourite time of the season.
Zrim loves playing Jervois, and they hate playing Zrim.
The fiery quick’s pace has always been a problem for the Bluds and he has enjoyed a fair bit of success against them recently.
Throw in brother Lachlan, Jack Daniell and the tight spin bowling of Gene Robinson and it’s hard to see how Jervois are going to post a competitive score.
Ben Dawson, Brenton Schulz and Daneil Gilmour have been in okay touch and if the Fidge boys can chip in they may be able to muster something in the vicinity of 150.
Gordon Bloomfield fronted for the Bluds in the twos recently and he must be another option for Jervois as he is a proven run-scorer against Mypo.
Mannum showed the rest of the competition the perfect way to beat Mypolonga last week.
All you have to do is remove openers Mark Oborn and Aaron Zrim early.
Much easier said than done of course.
The Tigers will be seething at their loss last week and will be hoping to get back into form with a demolition of Jervois.
They should get up comfortably in this match but I do hope Jervois prove me wrong and make a real shake of it.
Imperials v Wanderers
To make finals, Imperials must keep winning but they won’t get an easy run this week from Wanderers.
The Woo Hoos’ confidence is sky high at the minute and they possess a weapon Imperials do not - the wizardry of Simon Williams.
Big “Simo” took Meningie to the cleaners this week and he has become even more dangerous with the ball than he is with the bat at the moment.
That is a significant concern for the opposition as he is probably one of the best batsman in the competition.
Wanderers have a good core of experienced players in their side with Williams, the Rehn brothers, Lee Spurling, Phil Scheer and Michael Stapleton.
They are all in good form at the moment and this is the reason for the Woo Hoos’ recent success.
Imperials will welcome back Luke Harrowfield this week and if they can field a similar team to the one that did so well against Monarto last week, they are a good chance.
Casey Carr, Xavier Watson and the Wait brothers are all handy cricketers and they proved their worth last week.
If they don’t front up however expect this match to go all Wanderers’ way.
The Wanderers war machine at full cry is a magnificent sight and the Woo Hoos get plenty of wickets purely because of their verbal banter and spirited appeals.
I’ll go with the form side in Wanderers to get up, but if Imperials can play like they did last week you never know.
Meningie v Mannum
Can Mannum make it two weeks in a row?
Meningie will certainly hope not.
Although they were so impressive last week, Mannum are the sort of enigmatic team just as likely to implode against the Lakesiders this week.
Let’s face it, there’s only one reason Mannum won last week.
No, it wasn’t the sunglasses Michael Trotter wore when he ibatted or how good Danny Walker looked in the mirror before he went onto the field, it was because of the brilliance of Noel Hartman.
Noel will go down as one of the best batsman to ever play in the Murray Towns association and he showed he has still got it with a magnificent hundred that wound back the clock last week.
If he can repeat the dose Mannum are a sure thing.
But will he even play?
Noel is not known to enjoy road trips down to Meningie that much.
But captain and master tactician Dwayne Krollig will be doing everything in his power to get him on the park.
Meningie, as they showed last week, are vulnerable.
But they will take solace from the fact they are playing on the home deck and that the competition’s best batsman Stewart Willis doesn’t often fail two weeks in a row.
The Lakesiders must produce a good performance with the bat or perish.
Richard Boscence, Matt Hera-Singh, Brad Biddle and Hayden Biddle must step up and help Williss otherwise they can kiss their finals chances goodbye.
It’s a hard one to pick but I don’t think Mannum can perform that well two weeks in row, so on that basis I’ll stick with Meningie at home.
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