PORT Pirates captain Ben Woodward is hopeful a successful May Kelly Cup campaign will continue in the longer form as they continue the search for their first win.
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Despite the disappointing season, Woodward said the feeling remained good around the team.
“Our twenty20 form has given us a bit of belief and hopefully it will be the start of a swing of fortune,” he said.
“The boys showed a bit of fight which was promising.”
Mick Foster returns to the side alongside Ben de Braun and Peter Colver and Woodward believes all three bring different aspects to the side.
“Mick has been our most consistent bowler all season and Ben will play his first game in Premier League after a good showing in the twenty20,” he said.
“Peter Colver will give us that extra ability with his slips catching that probably previously has cost us a bit.”
Do or die is how Wauchope RSL captain Matt Day describes the clash at Andrews Park.
Wauchope currently sit 10 points outside the top four and have lost their last three in a row.
Day counteracted that statistic with one of his own – two of those three losses were to sides sitting in the top two.
But he knows anything less than a win on Saturday could have a terminal impact on their season.
“The only saving grace about everything is that we play a lot of the teams around us in coming weeks, but it is must win for us this weekend,” he said.
“The next three weeks will make or break us.”
After the clash with the last-placed Pirates, Wauchope play Taree United (third), Port City (fifth) and Nulla (fourth).
Three wins could see them surge back into finals contention.
The continued absence of Nathan Lyon (ankle) is the only missing piece to the selection jigsaw puzzle and Day is still unsure what his best batting order is.
“It’s a bit of a luxury for us this week to have to pick a side instead of blokes just picking themselves,” he said.
