Top sides to battle it out in A-grade thriller

TOP spot is on the line as Western Districts and Metropolitan-Easts in today’s TCI clash at Harristown Park.

KEY MAN: Western Districts will be hoping all-rounder Matt Hallas can fire in today’s clash with Metropolitan-Easts. Picture: Nev Madsen.

CRICKET: A top-of-the-table blockbuster is set to wrap up TCI A-grade year for 2019.

Defending champions and ladder leaders Western Districts travel to take on Metropolitan-Easts at Harristown Park in the final round of fixtures before the Christmas break.

The Magpies were able to regain top spot on the ladder following a clinical outright victory over Southern Districts last weekend, while the Trojans sit just 0.27 points behind in second after edging out University.

The two sides met in the semi-final of the 50-over Harding-Madsen Shield competition, with Mets coming out on top by a healthy margin.

Wests captain Luke Neale said they were hoping to turn the tables in the two-day format and maintain the crucial top spot heading into the break.

“It’s a really big two weeks coming up for us,” Neale said.

“We’re pretty much on par with Mets after the outright win, and it will be important if we can get them.

“First or second can be crucial come finals time, so a win would really help us towards the back end of the season.

“There’s a lot we can learn bowling wise from how they played us.

“We’ll change our plans a bit on how we go about bowling to them, and put different things into practise.”

Highfields-Railways will be looking to maintain pace with the top-three when it hosts Southern Districts, while Northern Brothers Diggers can keep a hold of third in its clash with University.

FIXTURES: Highfields-Railways vs Southern Districts at Highfields Sports Park; Metropolitan-Easts vs Western Districts at Harristown Park; University vs Northern Brothers Diggers at University Oval. Play commences at 12.30pm today.

LADDER: Western Districts 52.34, Metropolitan-Easts 52.07, Northern Brothers Diggers 34.71, Highfields-Railways 25.25, University 19.40, Southern Districts 13.01

YOUTH SIDE TACKLES BULLS MASTERS

The Darling Downs Suns are hoping to add to their silverware collection when they contest the Bulls Masters Youth Cup in Mackay.

The U16s sides has enjoyed strong success at the tournament, winning the first two editions in 2016 and 2017.

Their campaign begins with a Twenty20 match against South East Queensland, before further games against Far North and Mackay/Whitsunday.

FIXTURES: vs South East Queensland 6pm Sunday, vs Far North 9am Monday, vs South East Queensland 9am Tuesday, vs Far North 6pm Tuesday, vs Mackay/Whitsunday 9am Wednesday

SQUAD: Callum Barnett, Jude Brocherie, Paul Draheim, Ben Lee, Jake Pacey, Dan Robinson, Ned O’Reilly, Arshvir Singh, Tom Sippel, Harrison Tzannes, Michael Weldon, Lachlan Williams, Regan Draheim (coach), Brendan Barnett (manager), Gavin Fitness (mentor)

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