OUTRIGHTS should be on the minds of Moe and Morwell on the second day of their Energy Australia Yallourn Cup matches.
Both have first innings points all wrapped up and are striving for top place with two rounds left to play after this one.
Morwell could be in the box seat to finish on top, as Moe has the bye in the final round, but it plays Latrobe the following week.
Chris Johnson is on a hat-trick having dismissed John Murray and Robert Blunt with successive balls to end the Bulldogs’ first innings.
Fortunately for Newborough, Johnson will have to wait for his chance as he is unavailable this week.
Moe will probably bat on and resume at 5/125 with Tom Long and Sean Spiteri at the crease.
Andrew Philip was batting well before being dislodged on the second last ball of the day.
Long, who scored a century in his first game of the season, is 18* and Philip may want to give him more time in the middle before sending Newborough into bat again.
Even without Johnson, the Lions have plenty of bowlers capable of getting wickets including Long, Sam Price, Jayden Mathison and Rob Phoenix.
The Bulldogs will be doing everything in their power to avert an outright but Aiden Vesty, Matt Hibbs, Chris Robinson, Nathan Simpson and Steve Hibbs need to dig right in.
While Morwell has a 16-run lead and five wickets in hand against Yallourn North, the game is far from over.
Morwell will need to put runs on the board to keep the pressure on the Bombers.
Blake Mills is 37* and batting well and Brendan Brincat is due for a big score.
Failing that, the Morwell attack, led by Brandon McDonald and Brincat, will need to repeat their first innings efforts to ensure maximum points.
The young Bombers are not going to give up without a fight in what could be a cracker.
Latrobe will likely be content to chase first innings points against Trafalgar before trying to force the latter to bat again.
At 2/31 the Sharks will have Rob McKinley, Kaushik Aphale, Justin Vajler and Anthony Bloomfield to come and should get six points plus bonus points with their batting.
Trafalgar could surprise the Sharks if it gets a couple of quick wickets.
