Cricket North: South Launceston, Launceston vye for finals spot

With the bye to come in the next round for the Knights, a strong win against Launceston will leave the door ajar for a finals appearance pending on results in the final games of the season.

Needing a tick over a 100 runs, while rivals Launceston need six wickets to sow up their finals hope, the game at NTCA No. 1 sits well in the balance.

"Not trying to put the pressure on anyone we've had a bit of a joke throughout the week that if the batters to come can't get us over the line then our season is over just to lighten the mood," South Launceston captain Sean Harris said.

"But if we don't make the three that's not based on this game, it's based on our results from earlier in the season that we had control over ... so we'll give it a red-hot crack."

Launceston coach Andy Gower added on his side's aspirations: "If we win this game, we lock in the finals spot and if we lose we're not out of it but we want to be positive and going into finals with wins on the board, there's no point crawling."

Launceston would have felt their batting effort was below par after a solid opening session but now their hopes rest with the Lions' bowling unit to secure valuable first-innings points.

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Jackson Miller will come into the Lions' side after missing opening day, with the wicket-taker's seam a major inclusion on the NTCA. No 1 wicket.

"Obviously there's still some big wickets to take but if we get the ball in the right spots, the wicket is keeping a little low so we think Tom Gray and the fast bowlers are up to the challenge," Gower said.

"Jackson has been a wicket-taker for us throughout the year and we're really excited to get him back ... bowling stump to stump and attacking the wicket is a focus."

The Lions bowlers will be eager to nab the wicket of Knights' batter Nathan Philip with the destructive hitter set to resume not out on Saturday.

"Nathan will go in pretty confident that he can get help us get over the line and Graham Donaldson has been making handy runs for us, if he can get through the first 15-20 minutes of the morning, he'll grow in confidence," Harris said.

"We've got Brodie Jarrad back this week as well and he'll be next at the crease so we feel we've got enough guys in the sheds to support Nathan and if Nathan gets out, they can still score to get us over that total that Launnie got."

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Across at Riverside, the Blues' batting unit faces a tough battle against a strong Westbury line-up in the pursuit of the Shamrocks' 271.

It all hinges on the Riverside batting unit, which alongside Mowbray, is the only side yet to have a batter raise the bat for a century this season.

"That's probably what we're missing in terms of a complete performance, everyone's contributing a little but no one's had that big score so that's what we're chasing this week," Blues' coach Lyndon Stubbs said.

With former player of the year Tom Garwood and talented batter Zac Towns set to resume, the Shamrocks are confident their bowlers, second in the competition for wickets taken, can overcome the home side.

"We've got our ultra-attacking bowlers in Kieren [Hume] and Michael [Lukic] with the spin and we've done really well with our seamers is build a lot of pressure with them from different ends," Westbury captain Daniel Murfet said.

"Especially with Tom and Zac being their key wickets ... I think if we can get through them early it'll give us the best chance of taking wickets throughout the day."