Finals Focus - Juniors

With one round remaining, our Junior teams had a terrific Round 10, with 6 teams still in contention to make the finals.

Under 17/1

Berwick 54
Berwick Springs 54
Buckley Ridges 48
Dandy West 42
Cranbourne 36
Beaconsfield 36

After the hiccup of the previous week, the 17/1's bounced back in fine style to smash Lynbrook. However Berwick, with the aid of an extra 3 points after Cranbourne played an ineligible player earlier in the season, took top spot by percentage. We face Berwick in the final round with the winner taking the minor premiership. A loss is unlikely to cost us a home semi final as we hold a large percentage break over 3rd placed Buckley. The top 3 are all safe and only Dandy West face a must win game when they play 5th side Cranbourne in a virtual elimination final. Conclusion: Beat Berwick and we take top spot and play the winner of Dandy West & Cranbourne in the semi. Lose to Berwick and Buckley Ridges awaits.

Under 17/2

Berwick Springs 56
Nth Dandy 48
HSD 48
Parkfield 40

With top spot still not quite sewn up, we fell short of HSD's target, but Nth Dandy fell to Lyndale, maintaining our 8 point buffer and top place in the bag. Parkfield beat Endeavour Hills to replace them in the 4. Parkfield have the luxury of a bye in the final round & with 6 points certain, we know who our semi final opponent is. Nth Dandy will definitely play HSD in the other semi. Conclusion: The 4 is set, only 2nd & 3rd can swap. We are cemented on top, but need to bounce back after Saturday's loss.

Under 15/1

Cranbourne 51
Berwick 39
Narre Sth 36
Buckley Ridges 30
HSD 30
Noble Park 30
Berwick Springs 24

This writer had written off the 15/1's chances after Round 9, but they got past Narre Sth and still have an outside chance of squeezing in. It is a real long shot, but the final round draw is in our favour. The 3 teams immediately above us, all play the top 3 teams. Noble v Berwick, HSD v Cranny & Buckley v Narre Sth. Obviously, we need to put away Endeavour Hills convincingly and turn around small percentage breaks to those 3 above us. All have less than 0.1% over us, so it is possible. Conclusion: Beat EH and hope Buckley, HSD & Noble all fall. We probably need to take double the amount of wickets that we lose to get that percentage boost.

Under 15/3

Lynbrook 48
Berwick Springs 42
Noble Pk 36
Cranbourne 36
Dandy West 30

A narrow 4 run victory saw us hang on to 2nd spot, but 3rd team Noble has a big percentage break on us. Finals spot is certain, but we must beat Narre to host a semi final. Conclusion: Beat Narre and host a semi, simple. Opponent likely to be Noble or Cranny. Dandy West could squeeze in, but can't get higher than 4th.

Under 15/4

Berwick Springs 48
Lynbrook 40
Silverton 39
Endeavour Hills 30

In the 6 team comp, the finals are set and we have top spot sewn up. Certain to play Endeavour Hills in the semi. We face Silverton in the T20, who would love to knock us off close to the finals. Conclusion: Nothing can really change as both semi's are set in concrete, but we need to keep the momentum going by beating 3rd placed Silverton.

Under 13/1 & Under 13/3 both fell from contention with losses in Round 10.

Under 13/4

Narre Sth 48
Berwick Springs 48
Hallam Kallora Park 42
Lynbrook 33
Keysborough 30

We sit 2nd, but face a desperate Keysborough who need to knock us off to squeeze in to 4th. HKP have a big percentage break on us, so we need to win to host the semi. Conclusion: We will almost certainly play Hallam KP in the semi, unless NS lose unexpectedly. If we beat Keysborough, Lynbrook will hang on to 4th.