Weather holds key to Norths finals bid

NORTHS will be watching the skies with bated breath today as they make a last-ditch charge for the Townsville Cricket semi-finals in their clash with Wanderers at Fred Jacobsen Oval.

A win would be enough for Norths to leapfrog Brothers — who have a last-round bye — into third place, but uncertainty remains about whether fixtures will go ahead with the wet weather.

Norths are on a high after defeating defending champions Sub Parks by five wickets last weekend even without experienced pair Adam Zabala and Sam Collingwood.

Wicketkeeper Josh de Munari conceded Norths had made things harder for themselves with some patchy results, but he was optimistic about their title hopes if they can get on the pitch today.

“It probably doesn’t look likely at this stage, but we’ll see how it goes,” he said.

“It just depends how the wicket is at the moment.

“We’re at Wanderers so we don’t really know what the situation is there.

“When you beat Subs I think you gain a lot of confidence and as a group we managed to beat them without two of our best players so the team’s really starting to jell at the moment.

“Hopefully we do get on because I think we can make a good play for the premiership if we can get into that finals, but it’s out of our control at the moment.

“If we won a few more games here and there we wouldn’t be in this situation. It’s a disappointing, but hopefully we can get on and get a win and make the finals.”

Meanwhile in today’s other game, Wests and Sub Parks will fine-tune their preparations for the finals when they clash at Mick Downey Oval.

Wests have already locked in top spot and a path straight through to the grand final while Sub Parks are assured of a chance to defend their title after finishing the regular season in second.

Both teams are coming off surprise losses last weekend so today’s clash will be an important confidence boost heading into another potential grand final showdown.