PORTLAND Tigers and Portland Colts will do battle to determine who sits on top of the ladder with just one round to go, and in doing so give themselves the best chance at booking a ticket straight to the grand final at the end of the season.

Under a new A grade finals format introduced this season, the team that finishes on top of the ladder will earn a golden tickets straight into the grand final, while the teams that finish second and third will have to qualify via way of a knockout semi-final.

Today’s match, the first day of a two-day encounter, is also an important match for another reason with the Tigers hosting a Pink Stumps Day on day one in a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness.

Club representative Jake Davies said it was an initiative the club wanted to take on as something “a bit different.”

“We’ve done fundraisers in the past, but this time we’ll be doing the full pink stumps day and with pink baggie caps… really it’s just an opportunity to give back,” he said.

The association had been hoping to get Hanlon Park up and running for the final month of the season, however the surface has been deemed to be not up to the necessary standard for play.

As a result, it is expected that this match will be played on the turf wicket at Henty Park.

As for the cricket itself, the Tigers come into this one having had their two-week bye during last round, and only time will tell whether that serves to help or hinder them ahead of what is such a decisive match.

They have plenty of reasons to be confident, having won both of their two-day matches so far, though Colts can say the same thing and have the added bonus of having beaten the Tigers in their Twenty20 clash late last year.

As mentioned earlier, this will be the first time Hanlon Park has hosted cricket this season with the outfield having undergone regenerative works the past few months.

The Tigers will now have the opportunity to host both of their final two matches of the season at the ground ahead of the finals.

Expect a quality matchup between the two sides that have shown themselves to be top flight in the competition so far.

Darras look to make amends

After the disappointment of last week’s loss to Colts, Tyrendarra will be hoping to get back on track when they take on South Portland.

Despite the loss, the Darras will take plenty of confidence away from their second innings bowling performance which saw them reduce Colts to 6-31 before stumps, in an effort which also gained them valuable second innings points.

This is a game that has turned out to be an important one for Tyrendarra to win, as a loss would open to door for Gorae-Portland to knock them out of third spot – and therefore the finals – in the final round.

As for the Demons, this will be their final match of the season, as with a bye in the last round of the season and no chance at playing finals, at this stage they’ll be playing for pride.

A big second innings performance from their captain Mitch Arnold might provide a spark, but nonetheless the Darras will be strong favourites to take home the points in this one.

Due to the Tyrendarra Show, the game will be played on Sunday this weekend and Saturday next weekend, at Alexandra Park.