ROUND 10
SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2020
- NORTHERN DISTRICTS v WELLINGTON FIREBIRDS at Cobham Oval | Whangarei
- OTAGO VOLTS v AUCKLAND ACES (Q1) at University of Otago Oval | Dunedin
- CENTRAL STAGS v CANTERBURY at Pukekura Park | New Plymouth
The story so far...
It's been a hard fought one-day season and now it's down to the wire!
The Auckland Aces have already qualified top and will host the Grand Final in Auckland next Sunday. The Stags are out of it.
Everyone else - four teams - are fighting for the last two qualification spots, and, whoever gets them this Sunday will meet each other in the 2v3 Elimination Final on Thursday. Whoever qualifies higher on the table tomorrow will get to host that Elimination Final.
Current situation
28 - ACES
21 - FIREBIRDS
20 - CANTERBURY
19 - NORTHERN DISTRICTS
19 - OTAGO VOLTS
_______________
10 - CENTRAL STAGS
If defending champions the Firebirds beat ND...
The Firebirds will go through. All they have to do is win, with or without a bonus point. But a bonus point would ensure they also have home advantage for the Elimination Final.
If the Firebirds lose to ND...
They could still qualify, but they will need the Volts to beat the Aces, and, the Stags to beat Canterbury.
If Canterbury beats the Stags...
Ideally Canterbury will want to do it with a bonus point, in which case they will qualify. Otherwise, the door stays open for the Volts or ND to catch them on the table. If those three teams all end up on 24 points, they will be separated by a countback. The first countback is the number of wins - but they could all end up on 5 wins tomorrow. The second countback is the number of bonus points. Canterbury already has two bonus points while both ND and the Volts have one each. But both ND and the Volts will be looking for another bonus point tomorrow: they need that bonus point to reach 24 points. So ultimately if they all end up on 24 points, then it comes down to which team finishes with the highest net run rate by the end of the day.
If the Stags beat Canterbury...
Then a win by either ND or the Volts will knock Canterbury out.
If the Stags beat Canterbury, and, ND and the Volts both pick up wins...
Then at least one of ND or the Volts will qualify. If the Firebirds lose, and they both pick up wins, they will both qualify. If the Firebirds win, then the last spot will boil down to number of bonus points or, if still equal, net run rate for ND and the Volts - a potentially heartbreaking scenario with little separating the teams.
And .....there's always the possibility of a tied match!
View this post on InstagramLook who’s back for the ACES trip south to take on the Otago Volts in Dunedin 👀 #FollowSuit 🔵⚪️
