A remarkable round of results in the penultimate minor round matches in A&EHCA sees an even more intriguing battle for Finals spots than one could have imagined.
Creeks kept their season alive by belting the in form Lobethal with Ben Warren doing what he has done for the best part of 20 years, that is belting up on teams that are a little under strength as Lobey were Saturday. Smashing 81 off 57 balls and then following it up with 4/20 with the ball, he's a strong chance to take out his 1st "Shaun Tait Cricketer of the Year Award" since it was introduced in 2005/06
Nairne who are under Big pressure for their 4th spot responded with a win over Woodside to remain 1/2 a win ahead of the Creeks whilst Woodside has now lost Top spot again.
Hahndorf took top spot back from Woodside after receiving a scare from Wistow. Hahndorf accumulated 9/209 after oddly being sent into bat in the hot conditions. Dan Jenner almost single handedly got Wistow over the line with a brilliant 117 but with little support they failed by 21 runs
Now for the SHOCK UPSET of the round
Strath were still a chance of snaring Top spot but are now incredibly in a position that they could miss the finals all together
Chasing Bremer / Callingtons 112 on the turf at Callington, Strath were cruising to a regulation win at 1/50 and then incredibly lost 9/13 to be ALL OUT for 65 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UNBELIEVABLE SCENES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tho the Callington pitch has certainly been tough to bat on this season by all reports which has been backed by low scores there all season, surely there can be little excuse for a collapse of that magnitude.
In the wash up of all that the Top 5 now reads
Hahndorf 50
Woodside 48
Strath 46
Nairne 44
L Creek 42
This week
Strath play Creek
Nairne play Hahndorf
Woodside play Lobethal
Woodside can reclaim top spot with a win and Hahndorf losing
L Creek need to beat Strath and rely on Nairne losing to Hahndorf but as a result of last week shock loss by Strath , Creeks can also get in the 4 by beating Strath and overtaking them on NRR At the moment the differential is 0.16 in Straths favour but a decisive win by the Creeks may see them go ahead of Strath
Nairne need to beat Hahndorf to ensure their spot in the Finals otherwise they are relying on the Creeks to lose if they do as well.
With rumors flying around that most of the Top 5 sides (Creeks, Nairne & Hahndorf in particular) will have key players missing at some stage over the next few weeks, the Premiership has never been as wide open