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And with one day of play gone, we are set for an exciting final day of the GMC season.
Three teams — Moama, Echuca and Rochester — do not go into two finals spots, and have to produce their best cricket in order to give themselves a chance of progressing beyond next week.
And all three did exactly that on Saturday.
Taking on second-placed Tongala, Echuca’s bowlers went to work against one of the strongest batting sides in the competition.
Simon Maddox was the leader for the bottle green with three wickets, with the remaining wickets spread between the team as only two Tongala players scored more than 20.
At the close, Tongala was heading home having managed just 118 from their 69.4 overs.
This could be the showing to guarantee Echuca’s finals spot.
And yet somehow, they were outperformed by both sides trying to lock down their own finals position.
Rochester, the least likely of the three teams to miss the finals, tore through a poor BLU batting line up.
Rochester only used four of their bowlers, with Vibhor Yadav the destroyer with 5/23.
BLU went back to the sheds after only 35 overs, all out for a miserable 59.
It gave the Rochester bats time to set up a potential second innings win on the second day of play, with the side closing Saturday’s proceedings at 3/101.
Following on from his performance with the ball, Yadav finished 42 not out.
Moama, currently sitting in fifth spot — desperately needing a statement victory to knock Echuca out of the four — didn’t have to travel far for their match, taking on an Echuca South team who seem to just want the season to end.
Anthony McMahon was more than happy to help.
He stunned the opposition with an incredible 5/9, as only one South player managed to get past 20.
South were routed for 95, with Brad Jones and Alistair McCann given 14 overs to help Moama set up a second innings win.
They closed the day’s play on 0/55, trailing by 40.
Rochester appears to be all but safe, but Echuca and Moama are both still in the fight.
A win for Echuca looks possible, but it won’t be enough if Moama can win in the second innings.
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