TAREE West has the opportunity to close in on the top four in the remaining two weeks of the Mid North Coast Premier League cricket competition before the Christmas break.
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The West plays Port Magpies and Rovers tomorrow at the Johnny Martin Oval. There's only one T20 game next week and Taree West has the bye.
Taree West still sits in last spot, but they're now just four points adrift of fourth placed Port Magpies. This follows a win and a loss from the opening week of the T20s last Saturday.
"If we can get two wins this weekend we'll be looking okay going into the break with the bye,'' this week's stand-in captain Josh Meldrum said.
The victory over Wingham was timely last week, he said.
However, Taree West followed this up with a disappointing effort with the bat against United, where they were dismissed for just 69 and failed to bat the 20 overs out.
"We have to bat in partnerships,'' Meldrum emphasised.
"It's important that we bat the 20 overs if we bat first.''
Skipper Dean Mills is unavailable this weekend, however, Zac Sheather returns and he'll take Mills' place at the top of the order. Meldrum said there's plenty of experience in the Taree West batting order, including players the calibre of Blake Polson and Paul Cox.
However, the news isn't as positive for all-rounder Clint Simpson.
"Clint's injured his shoulder and he could be out a couple of months,'' Meldrum said.
Simpson had shown promise with the bat and ball in his first season with the club.
"He'd been out of cricket for a while, but he was starting to hit the ball pretty well,'' Meldrum said.
Meldrum is a match winning batsman, but he admits his returns have been modest this season.
"I need to put my head down and build an innings,'' he said.
Meldrum said two wins tomorrow and the bye next week will have the side well placed going into the break.