Riverside could shake up its batting order as it looks to break a two-match losing streak at home.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Blues will blood experienced opener Dan Forster in Saturday's clash with Launceston having picked up the father-of-two from interstate.
Forster's inclusion and West Indian Kirk Thompson's impending breakout game has Blues captain Tom Garwood excited for where his side is headed.
FULL TEAMS: Check them out here
"Kirk's been excellent around the group - he's a bit frustrated with himself at the moment with not getting a score but he's pretty pumped up this weekend. He's expecting a big score from himself and we're expecting a good team performance," Garwood said.
"We were close again [last week] but we're not quite hitting the mark on a few areas. Once we get those right we'll be winning games of cricket for sure."
James Simpson will miss several weeks with injury.
RELATED: Cricket North round four recap
Launceston is also set to make changes with key quicks Tom Gray and Daniel Smith both unavailable.
Lions captain-coach Alistair Taylor said the pair were impossible to replace, but backed his inclusions to perform their role and help opener Cam Lynch secure a win in his 100th game.
"We'll make a bit of a deal of it I suppose - we only realised last week," Taylor said of the milestone.
"He's a fantastic bloke, probably one of the better blokes going around the club.
"He's always positive, he doesn't have a bad word to say against anyone, he's a fantastic leader around the group and a former vice-captain of the club and he's still an integral part of our leadership group."
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
The absence of five front-line players has restored some interest to a match-up between unbeaten WESTBURY and winless Mowbray.
The Shamrocks will be without Raiders trio Jono Chapman, Ollie Wood and Jake Williams with star veterans Matthew Battle and Nick Spencer both unavailable.
Second grade quick James Baker is likely to get his chance to lead the attack while Kobe Moore and Joel Lloyd will be given chances to keep and bat in the top four respectively.
"We've got five out of our best 11 out really which is exciting for a few of the other guys waiting in the wings that they can get their opportunity and do something there and put their hand up," Shamrocks captain Dan Murfet said.
"There's been a core group of three to four guys waiting around for their opportunity for the last couple of years, so it's weeks like this where they get a good chance to get up the order with the batting or get a few extra overs."
Jono Jones' return from injury is likely to be Mowbray's only change as James Storay's side looks to make good on some below-par batting displays.
"It's a great challenge for our young group against the best team in the North, they have some very dangerous batters in their line-up," Storay said.
"Obviously our batting has let us down over the past couple of matches so we're looking for batters to stand up and bat some time."
While you're with us, did you know that you can now sign up to receive breaking news updates direct to your inbox? Sign up here.