The 10th round of the ILT Southland 50-over club competition was abandoned on Saturday, due to ground conditions.
The abandonment puts extra emphasis on the final two round robin games as teams try to qualify for finals.
Southland Cricket captain Shaun Fitzgibbon thinks the six-team competition is stronger this season than at any other time in the last 20 years.
"There is an even spread of representative players in each club, and Dom [Southland Cricket general manager Jason Domigan] has built good relationships with the clubs."
"His communication and commitment has made it easier for our clubs to thrive at all levels."
Appleby is unbeaten with 10 wins from 12 matches, with two games being abandoned due to bad weather.
All-rounder Kieran Lloyd is averaging 51 from his eight innings, which includes a century. Ankit Pursharthy has carried his bat through three of his eight innings helping boost his average to 56.
Team-mates Clint Goad and Venkat Kotte also feature among the competition's top 10 run scorers. Appleby fast bowler Jacob Downing has accumulated 16 wickets at the average of 10.13. Lloyd also contributes plenty with the ball.
Marist sits in second spot with six wins.
Opening bowler James Bell is the leading wicket-taker with 19 at an average of 12.95. Opening batsman James Ng is in superb form this season averaging 47 with a strike-rate of 106 and highest score of 118.
Connor Rodden is the competition's fourth-highest run-scorer, with an average of 36 from his eight visits to the crease.
Southland Boys High has won five of its games. Brayden Thomas has been its most consistent batsmen with a highest score of 96 and average of 24 from his nine innings.
Blake Harper has 13 wickets at an average of 13 and Jed Mockford has also been successful with the ball, with 12 wickets.
Invercargill Old Boys have won four games and are in fourth spot on the ladder. Talented batsmen Ryan Acland averages 51 from his five innings and Harsh Visavadyia scored 156 in one of his four matches. Sam Nicholson is the club's leading bowler.
Waikoikoi needs to win its remaining two round-robin games against Boys' High and Marist, and rely on Old Boys losing to Marist and Appleby. All-rounder Ryan McFaul averages 31 with the bat and has taken 14 wickets at an average of 18.
Invercargill Metropolitan has a mathematical chance of sneaking into the fourth semifinal spot but is likely to be playing just for pride in its remaining two matches against Appleby and Boys' High.
- John Langford
