The Hurricanes are unbeaten after three rounds and have a 10-point break on top of pool B, but a victory for the Eagles, who sit third, can close the gap and potentially unseat Ulverstone from second.

‘‘It is a very important game in our pool and this game could be a key deciding factor on who goes through to the semis,’’ Eagles captain John Le Fevre said.

Mowbray is coming off a win over Sheffield and have been playing good cricket which will provide them with confidence going in to the contest.

‘‘We turned the corner a little bit last week and bowled exceptionally well to restrict Sheffield to below 100 and then chased down the runs in a positive manner was great for the confidence of our batting group,’’ Le Fevre said.

‘‘They are in pretty good form and would be a big scalp so we’re certainly expecting a pretty close contest.’’

Fletcher Seymour is away on state under-19 duties with batsman Luke Scott and all-rounder Jordan Loone in contention to replace him.

RIVERSIDE take on South Launceston in an all-Northern affair at Windsor Park with the points important to both sides and counting towards the Cricket North ladder.

The Blues are coming off a nine-wicket defeat to Devonport last week and captain Alex Saunders said his side failed to score enough runs on a good batting wicket.

‘‘Batting will be our focus again and making sure we get a big score on the board,’’ he said.

‘‘With the competition being so even this year, points are vital and we’re expecting this to be another close game.’’

Matthew Kerrison is unavailable this week.

SOUTH LAUNCESTON had a good victory over Wynyard last week but will be without two key batsmen with Alec Smith and Charles Eastoe away with the state under-19 team.

‘‘We haven’t got any points in NTCA cricket yet and we struggled early the same as last year before coming good with a some wins in the Greater Northern Cup so hopefully that is how it plays out this weekend,’’ coach Liam Devlin said.

‘‘We are bringing in Tom Waller and Mark Nutting comes back in after a late unavailability last weekend.’’

Devlin said they would have to rejig their batting line-up and hoped captain Nathan Philip could spend some time in the middle and bat himself back in to form.

He said their bowling had been good and boasted plenty of options with the ball.

WESTBURY plays George Town chasing a much-needed win and points following a defeat at Burnie last week.

Shamrocks captain Michael Lukic said it was a disappointing showing and they lost wickets in clumps when they needed batsmen to stand up and bat through the innings.

‘‘There is plenty of room for improvement and it is critical to get as many points as we can before Christmas to set your season up because come two-day cricket anything can happen,’’ he said.

‘‘We need to win as many games as we can and take it game by game to put ourselves in the best position and we are pretty up and about for this week.’’

The Shamrocks lose Shaun Leatherbarrow but have a valuable replacement with Richard Howe back after his return from a trip to England.

GEORGE TOWN’S batting woes have continued after being dismissed for 67 last week and the Saints will need to score more runs to be competitive and have a chance of victory.

LAUNCESTON travels to Wynyard with Lions coach Andy Gower saying his team was affected by the same problem of not enough runs in their loss to Latrobe last week.

‘‘I think we are improving – our openers got us off to a good start and the top four did a good job but we have to find a way to accelerate through the last 10 overs and keep wickets in hand,’’ he said.

‘‘We need one of the top four to go and make a big score to get us to 180 or 200 and be competitive.’’

Gower remains sidelined with knee surgery, Jake Williams has school cricket and Zac Oldenhof is unavailable.

Jackson Miller is a possible replacement, Dom Rawlings returns from school cricket and Steve Hudson comes in for his second game.

In other North-West matches, Sheffield take on Ulverstone and Devonport play Latrobe.

GREATER NORTHERN CUP

 ROUND 4 MATCHES

Mowbray v Burnie

Sheffield v Ulverstone

Westbury v George Town

Devonport v Latrobe

Riverside v South Launceston

Wynyard v Launceston

CUP LADDER

 POOL A

P W D L Pts  NRR

Burnie 3 3 0 0 27  1.9028

Ulverstone 3 2 0 1 18 0.8857

Mowbray 3 2 0 1 17  0.4677

Sheffield 3 1 0 2 10  0.2903

Westbury 3 1 0 2 8 -0.4033

George Town 3 0 0 3 0  -4.0240

POOL B

South Lton 3 3 0 0 26  0.9359

Devonport 3 2 0 1 18  0.7676

Latrobe 3 2 0 1 17 0.1072

Riverside 3 1 1 1 13  -0.0985

Wynyard 3 0 1 2 4  -0.3867

Launceston 3 0 0 3 0  -1.2774