THE weekend has arrived and so has the latest round of the Victoria Men’s Premier League Cricket competition, with preparations beginning to heat up. Saturday will mark the Round 10 of action for the 2021/22 season, with the race for a top-eight spot well and truly wide open. There are some big clashes set to take place across the grounds, with undefeated records and top-four spots on the line.

St Kilda vs Northcote

Saturday, January 29 @11:30am
CitiPower Centre

In the biggest matchup scheduled for the round, St Kilda will play host to Northcote at CitiPower Centre on Saturday. Both sides are currently stationed inside the top-four, so this should make for an enthralling battle.

St Kilda are currently the only undefeated team remaining in the competition, with eight wins coming from their eight outings. They have shown a tremendous amount of power in their batting lineup, and have proved too good for each of their opponents. Last round, three of their players scored 74 runs or more, which demonstrates the depth of their batting order. Adam Crosthwaite top scored with 105 runs in their win, so expect him to play a big role. They have also proved impressive with ball in hand, with a number of players taking multiple wickets in recent weeks.

Northcote found themselves on the end of a mini-upset last weekend as they were defeated by Melbourne in a massive clash. They were still in the top four by the end of the round, but at the bottom of this group. They will be looking to get themselves back on the winners’ list with a win, but will need to do what no team has done this season. Expect batsman Jack Lalor to be amongst the top run scorers for his side, given his strong form of late.

AROUND THE GROUNDS

There will be another blockbuster clash when Carlton hosts Melbourne at Princes Park on Saturday morning. The two teams are sitting in the top three of the ladder, and a win here will give one side a massive boost moving forward.

Moving over to Windy Hill, Essendon will welcome Frankston Peninsula when the two sides face off on Saturday morning. The two sides have identical records with two wins and six losses coming from their eight games, so whoever emerges victorious in this clash will have a big boost moving forward.

In yet another massive matchup in the context of the standings, Melbourne University will travel to Mervyn G Hughes Oval to take on Footscray on Saturday. The two sides occupy the fifth and sixth positions on the standings and will be looking to make their move into the top four, so a win here will prove vital, and this should prove to be a cracking contest.

Heading south for the next contest, Geelong will play host to Fitzroy Doncaster when the two sides go head-to-head on Saturday morning. Both teams have a record of four wins and four losses and sit just outside the top eight as of today, so this match will provide the perfect opportunity to sneak into the top half of the ladder with a win.

Kingston Hawthorn will be looking to cause an upset when it hosts Ringwood at Walter Galt Reserve on Saturday afternoon. The home side has won just the one match so far this season, and currently sit on the bottom of the ladder. Ringwood will head into this match as favourites given their position in eighth spot, but no result is certain in this sport.

A similar story can be said for the Greenvale Kangaroos as they take on Richmond at Greenvale Reserve on Saturday. The Kangaroos have won just two games, but have shown some signs of promise in their victories, even handing Carlton their first loss of the season. Richmond will be confident in their ability to chalk out a win, but Greenvale will be looking to stop this.

The penultimate match of the round will see the Camberwell Magpies travel to Casey Fields to take on Casey-South Melbourne on Saturday. Both sides have stumbled to start the season, with the Magpies only winning two matches while the home side has only claimed three wins themselves, so this match gives the victor the perfect opportunity to get their season properly rolling.

The final match of Round 10 will see Dandenong head to Toorak Park to take on Prahran on Saturday morning. In what has been a similar theme this week, both sides carry the same record of three wins and five losses. This sees them sit outside the top eight by just one match, so whoever emerges victorious from this match will have given themselves a massive boost.