GEORGE TOWN will have to fight hard with the bat to stave off a likely outright defeat on day 2 of its NTCA match against South Launceston at the NTCA No.2 Ground tomorrow.
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The Knights are in the box seat for valuable additional points after amassing 9-295, batting first last week and rocking the George Town batting line- up in the final hour of play to have the Saints on the ropes at 6-27.
"It was a pretty disastrous day all-round," George Town coach Rohan Pooley said.
"To South's credit they batted well in patches and we bowled well in patches.
"The outfield was lightning and we felt 295 wasn't out of the question if we batted well - but we had a bit of a horror hour before stumps which puts us on the back foot.
"We need to fight as hard as we can to avoid a follow- on result."
Pooley said they would need to bat for as long as possible with their remaining four wickets and then try to stave off an outright loss.
"The depth of the club isn't where we'd like it to be and that is something the club and committee is looking at now but we have to keep fighting and work as hard as we can to get the results we want," he said.
He said the final hour's play last week had been the result of a combination of good bowling by South and some poor decision-making by the Saints batsmen.
"Kyle Bowie bowled well and got the ball where he needed to ask the batsmen to play as much as possible and they took a couple of sharp catches.
"It is hard in that batting position because you can't play your natural game and it was unfortunate that a couple of blokes couldn't hang in there and be two- down instead of where we are at the moment."
MOWBRAY will resume at 1-33, chasing Launceston's total of 197, in their game at Invermay Park.
Eagles captain John Le Fevre said the first day's play had been a game of two halves.
"We managed to take quick wickets a couple of times and they managed to put on two really good partnerships so I think it was pretty even money at the end of the day," he said.
"The wicket was fine on the stumps but a bit up and down outside off-stump so it will be interesting to see how it plays this weekend.
"We're pretty confident we can set ourselves to bat for the majority of the day and if we can do that amount of time we'll get the runs."
Le Fevre said he and Liam Reynolds aimed to bat for as long as possible when they resume and then build partnerships from there and occupy the crease.
RIVERSIDE faces a big run chase when it resumes its game against Westbury at Riverside.
The Shamrocks built a big total of 8-303, batting first last week and the Blues resume their innings at 0-23, in reply.
"Westbury got to a pretty good start in the first session to be 0-100, but from there I thought we battled pretty well and were able to fight back and keep it to 300," Riverside captain- coach Luke Richardson said.
"Obviously 300 is a reasonable score so it will take some chasing but the wicket has been good and the outfield is pretty quick as well.
"It's a 280-game now and if we can bat for most of the day then the runs will certainly be there.
"It's the first time for two- day stuff this year but hopefully the boys can apply themselves and bat for long periods of time and get a couple of partnerships going."
