Launceston holding onto NTCA finals hopes

Boasting a lead of nearly 100 heading into day two, Westbury's Dan Murfet will assess the NTCA wicket before deciding how early to send the Lions back in.

"We got first innings sorted last week but there's still a lot of cricket to be played and if there's an outright on the table it could still be there for both sides," said Murfet, who took five catches behind the stumps last week.

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"If [the pitch] is looking like it did early on where it was seaming round quite a bit we might look to declare earlier and expose Launny's batting to that again.

"Because we won the toss last week and got ourselves into a good position that's in our hands at the minute so that's our advantage.

"But even saying that, if the door opens for Launny to push for an outright they're going to go for it, so we've got to be careful because they're a good side as well."

Young quick Kaleb Williams will replace Matty Allen for the Shamrocks, with the Lions exchanging Matthew Woods, who top-scored with 44, for Ross Tulich.

Lions captain-coach Alistair Taylor said his side would not be intimidated by a Westbury first-innings lead which could still balloon with Dane Anderson unbeaten at the crease.

"It was a tricky wicket to bat on and credit to Westbury, they bowled really well, challenged our defence and got a lot of nicks," Taylor said.

"We're just going to try and take these last five wickets without conceding too many runs, then bat and go from there.

"It'd be nice to try and get in a winnable position. It's going to be pretty hard but we'll see how we go, we'll play positive cricket and we're not going to go into our shell."

ELSEWHERE IN SPORT

MOWBRAY'S hopes of chasing down 8-339 appear to hang on a vital first-wicket partnership between the club's past and present captains.

South Launceston batsman Nathan Philip said breaking the John LeFevre-Luke Scott pairing early would be crucial to his side keeping pace with Westbury at the top of the table.

"I think the first session is really important - they've got two really senior batters in at at the crease at the moment so if we get them out early who knows what could happen," Philip said.

"The pitch is pretty good and the outfield is lightning fast so we'll have to bowl pretty well to win the game."

Eagles boss James Storay said his XI was determined to finish its final game for the season strongly.

"We are looking to bat all day and finish strongly and chase down the target on what should be a good batting surface," he said.

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