Norths upbeat at final pursuit

NORTHS captain Matthew McGuire is confident his batsmen can stand up to an inform Wests this weekend when they battle it out for a place in the Townsville Cricket grand final.

Wests have the momentum heading into the semi- final at Mick Downey Oval after rolling Norths for just 105 last weekend on the back of brilliant spells from Jaymie Dunlop ( 4- 20) and skipper Shaun Curnow ( 4- 16).

That seven- wicket win saw Wests leapfrog Norths to finish the regular season in second place, but ladder position is unlikely to come into play for the semi- final with clear skies predicted across the weekend.

McGuire ( pictured) admitted it was tough going for his side last weekend, but he felt they were better suited to the two- day format as they look to secure a place in the decider against defending champions Sub Parks.

“It was a little bit underprepared last week with the rain, but hopefully the wicket’s nice and true this weekend to go the whole two days,” he said.

“Things didn’t go our way, but there’s a few things that we can tinker with leading up to the semifinal.

“It’s a different format of cricket compared to last weekend, which probably suits us a little bit better.”

Wests have an experienced batting line- up including the likes of former Queensland Country skipper Tony Hampson while opener Jack Raffles led the way last weekend with a half- century.

Norths have been strong with the ball this season, with Sam Collingwood ( 47 wickets @ 9.38) on top of the wickets tally, but McGuire felt they would need to improve in all areas to take down Wests.

“We got to have a good look at Wests last weekend to see what their pros and cons are and we get to change a few things to suit that,” he said.

“It’s exciting to play finals so the intensity is definitely there and the boys have been training pretty hard.

“If we just to play our whole game a bit smarter, bowl a lot tighter and build a lot more pressure with both bat and ball then it should be a good weekend of cricket.”

Play starts at 10am today and continues tomorrow at Mick Downey Oval.