WITH a solitary point separating first from second place on the A-Grade ladder, Margaret River Hawks and Dunsborough will do battle in this Saturday's last round of qualifying games at Gloucester Park for the right to host the Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association's grand finals on March 21.
Hawks' 12-point win over St Marys at Bovell Park last Saturday has put them back on top of the Yates Shield points table, leapfrogging Dunsborough.
Thanks to bonus points and other affairs, Hawks are on top of the ladder despite losing six games, while Dunsborough (who have lost only five games) find themselves sitting in second place.
Dunsborough achieved 10 points on Saturday by beating YOBS in a high-scoring encounter at the Dunsborough Playing Fields - a result which ended YOBS' hopes of hosting the grand finals at Barnard Park.
The A-Grade encounter between Hawks and St Marys at Bovell Park was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
An extremely thick outfield made boundaries very difficult to score, and there was no 30m fielding circle marked on the ground.
Given the circumstances, Hawks performed incredibly well to amass 9-183 from 50 overs, after hardly hitting the ball off the square in the opening 15 overs.
The left-handed Sri Lankan duo of Charith Jayampathi (53) and Rumesh Silva (62) engaged in what turned out to be a match-winning century partnership for the fourth wicket to get Hawks on their way to a winning total.
Rob Blake (2-29) and Dwayne Franklin (2-29) both bowled with great accuracy for St Marys, while skipper Danny Hatton returned 2-21 after bowling for most of the innings off a short run due to a calf muscle strain.
Saints totally collapsed in reply to be 7-30, losing three A-Grade debutants all to first-ball ducks, when Hatton emerged batting down the order at No. 9.
After being refused a runner by opposing captain Mat Kent, Hatton protested by stonewalling for the last 25 overs of the innings without scoring a single run.
It is surely a record in BMRCA history.
In fact, the only 9 runs scored by Saints in their final 25 overs came the way of five individual wides and a solitary scoring shot for four by Jono Lloyd in the penultimate over of the game.
Saints ended their 50 overs on an extraordinary total of 9-45.
Across town at Dunsborough, YOBS must have had high hopes of a victory after a good team batting effort saw them total 9-196 from 50 overs.
Jacob Evans led the way with an impressive 60 off 80 balls, while Ricky Small-Boyce, Aaron Andrich and Josh Reagan captured two wickets apiece for Dunsborough.
Requiring nearly 200 for an unlikely victory, Dunsborough immediately had their hopes buoyed by an enterprising opening stand of 65 between Aaron Mott (38) and Chris King (hitting a carefree 33 off 33 balls).
Andrich completed an excellent allround performance with a solid 56 at No. 4 to anchor the innings, and his teammates did enough to see Dunsborough scrape across the line with two wickets and one over to spare.
After bowling an extremely slow over rate at the start of the Dunsborough innings, YOBS found themselves chasing their tails and turned to Troyden Thorp to up the over rate.
He capitalised with 3-8 after bowling with great control.
In B-Grade cricket, St Marys (172, with Peter Grygorcewicz hitting 51 and Leaney 42) scored a vital win over Vasse (106, Chris Cook 38 not out) at the Vasse Playing Fields to remain in contention for top spot.
YOBS defeated Hawks at Barnard Park, while Dunsborough outlasted Cowaramup on a tricky, slow and seaming turf track at Cowaramup in the other game.
As a result, with one round remaining, YOBS are sitting on top of the B-Grade points table on 95 points, followed by St Marys on 93, Dunsborough on 83 and Vasse on 81.
Cowaramup, who are fifth on 78 points, will still make the finals if they defeat YOBS this weekend, because Dunsborough and Vasse are playing each other and one will presumably lose to the other.
In C-Grade cricket the fascinating situation continues, with Cowaramup also in fifth place and needing to beat Nannup this weekend to snatch fourth place and a berth in the finals.
Cowie scored an important win at home when they overcame St Marys' score of 7-140 off 40 overs with one over to spare.
Dennis Armour's second century of the season saw top side Vasse defeat YOBS at Barnard Park, while Hawks outperformed Nannup at the Nippers Oval in the other game.