Skipper to miss Lions’ big clash with Tigers

A depleted Royals side minus captain Jack Hastie will take on reigning premiers Railways in an intriguing round 6 clash on Saturday in the Albany Cricket Association A-grade competition.

The Lions are coming off their best performance of the season with the bat, posing 227 batting first last week but they had a big scare as Denmark nearly chased down the big total.

Hastie is among a string of omissions for the Lions, making their task of back-to-back wins even tougher when they face the Tigers at Turf East.

Recruit Mitch Green, fresh off his biggest score of the season, will face his old team for the first time this week and he along with top- order players Matt Wolfe and Digby Nuthall will need to fire with the bat.

Hastie is away on holidays while youngster Tom Wolfe and left arm seamer Bodhi Stubber are also unavailable, which is set to stretch the Lions bowling attack.

The Tigers also come into the match in strong batting form, having posted 224 in their demolition of Manypeaks last week.

Captain Zane Marwick made 73 not out in the win over Peaks and has an impressive record against the Lions in previous encounters.

Meanwhile in other fixtures on Saturday, Collingwood Park will look to consolidate a top-four spot when they face the winless Denmark at Turf North.

The Magpies will be buoyed by their efforts in a tense eight-run loss and skipper Ryan Gaerth looms as a key with both bat and ball.

North County will return from the bye and try and push their way back up the ladder when they tackle Peaks at Turf South.

Talented brothers Michael and Matthew Ferreira will be missing from the Bulldogs’ line-up with veteran Craig Tonkin expected to slide back up the order to opening duties.

ACA A-GRADE ROUND 6

Saturday, 12.15pm start

Royals v Railways at Turf East

Collingwood Park v Denmark at Turf North

Manypeaks v North County at Turf South