It all comes down to this

CRICKET LVDCL PREMIER A

BY LIAM DURKIN

GET those calculators out.

Last-round anxiety will beset anumberofteams in Latrobe Valley District Cricket League Premier Aover the next two weeks.

Places in the final four won’t be known until at leastafter Day1,and even then, there is sure to be further subplots emerge.

Teams can ill-afford to rest on theirlaurels, as every game in the last round carries aconsequence.

Mathematically at least, thereisstill anynumber of hypotheticals that could come to fruition, while playerswill carry adouble-entendre of motivation.

Some teams need to win to get the minor premiership, others need to win to avoid relegation.

The fixture has fallenperfectly as far as scriptwriters are concerned.

Topsides Morwelland Churchill meet, in agame that will determine the minor premiership.

Moe, in third, plays fellowtop four team Raiders.

The Lions performance could have ahugebearing on the final make-up of the ladder.

Raiders meanwhile, just needs to win to make life easier for themselves.

If they don’t, and Latrobe beats CATS in the other game, the Sharks will go equal on points.

With only 0.96 per cent currently separating Raiders and Latrobe, there is alegitimate chance the Sharks can pinch fourth spot.

Let’s not discount outright results either.

If Raiders lose and CATS manage to win outright with first innings points -theywill play finals.

Granted CATS are seven points off fourth place, and the chances of thathappening seem remote, as they say -‘stranger things have happened’.

Trafalgar made finals by 0.13 per cent in 2014/15 and wentontowin the flag outright.(How does that even happen?).

Internally, CATSand Latrobe might not be harbouring any great intentions of playing finals, and instead, redirect their attentiontoavoiding relegation -the fate that will meet the loser of their match.

For CATS especially, they surely do not want to be known as the team that was relegated after winning aPremier Aflag.

With allthese possibilities on the cards, it may well come to nothing.

The reason for that is temperatures touching the 38 degree cut-off are forecast.

If the first day is called off due to heat, matches will revert to one dayers, which will mean the top four can’t change.

Getting heated offthis weekend might not be the worst thing.

League officialsmight finallyget to seefirst-hand the benefits of playing aone-dayer in the last round of the regular season.

Places in the top four often come down to teams needing outrights, and twoday gamesmean conditionscan seriously be alteredone week to the next.

Whileyou trust peopletodothe right thing and never want to suggest conditions are manipulated, havinga one dayer eliminates the possibility completely.