THE penalty for losing Saturday’s local cricket derby between arch rivals St George and Sutherland is clear — lose and your semi-final hopes are dashed.
Most of the teams’ big guns will be on show at Glenn McGrath Oval, Caringbah, when seventh-placed Sutherland host eighth-placed St George, with the teams one win away from scraping into a top six finals spot.
The game, over successive Saturdays, marks the penultimate round of the competition with only the winner having a chance of progressing.
Sutherland have NSW players Phil Jaques, Steve Smith and Nic Maddinson on hand.
St George are boosted by Moises Henriques and Kurtis Patterson making their return from injury, plus state quick Trent Copeland.
Sutherland were hopeful Shane Watson would turn out for them again but the all-rounder has been included in Australia’s One-Day squad.
Jaques and his Sutherland side have held onto the Norm O’Neill Cup since the clubs played for it in 2008-09.
Jaques said there were no second chances.
‘‘It’s do or die. We’re playing our semi-finals from here and the local derby is always a massive game,’’ Jaques said.
‘‘There is always extra spice playing St George.’’
Sutherland surged past St George with a 10-point outright victory against Wests last week while the Saints were unable to capture the one wicket needed to beat Bankstown with the match finishing in a draw.
Veteran paceman Steven Green said St George were hurting from the tight loss.
‘‘We were pretty down in the sheds,’’ Green said. ‘‘We busted our backsides but we couldn’t get that last wicket.’’
The toss will be interesting with Sutherland’s strength in their batting and St George’s their bowling.
As NSW play a Sheffield Shield game from next Thursday, players picked won’t be eligible for day two of the local derby next Saturday.
More than 800 runs were scored in a second grade match at Glenn McGrath Oval last weekend.
‘‘Hearing how many runs were scored doesn’t fill me with any joy,’’ Green said.
‘‘The only batting line-up which would rival Sutherland’s is Randwick-Petersham with [Test players] Simon Katich and Usman Khawaja.’’
Green is considering retirement at the end of this season.
‘‘It’s coming closer and closer,’’ Green said. ‘‘I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do but I’m leaning towards retirement.’’
The match starts at 10.30am.
SUTHERLAND:
Phil Jaques (c), Nic Maddinson, Steven Smith, Stephen Cush, Matthew Hughston, Luke Dudman, Mitchell Brown, Adam Zampa, Daniel Rixon, Joel Tuccia, Nathan Fitzgerald.
ST GEORGE:
Greg Hunt, Simon Chu, Kurtis Paterson, Moises Henriques, Blake Fitzgerald, Trent Copeland, Chris MacDougal, Kevin Pillay, Liam Zammit (c), Daniel Magin, Steven Green.
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