By Roy Weavers

The weather over the weekend gifted the Port Douglas Court House Mudcrabs a place in this seasons Grand Final. Despite desperate efforts by groundsman Keith Taylor and the rest of the players, the rain would not let up long enough to allow the strong winds to blow dry the pitch to make it playable for the semi-final with Innisfail.

The outfield was like a bog, mainly due, of course to the Councils absurd oversanding of the ground a few weeks ago. Although the sand has sunk down into the ground, such a thick layer absorbs the water but doesn't let it drain away, so it takes three times longer to dry out.

This unfortunately worked against Innisfail who finished fourth on the table. The rules are quite clear on this matter. The higher finisher in the league when a game is not possible to be played goes through to the next round.

Since The Port Douglas Muddies finished in first place on the ladder at the end of the home and away season, they are now automatically in the Grand Final to be played over next weekend at Griffith's Park No. 2 starting at 10am on both days. The Mudcrabs will be playing Untied Cricket Club for a replay of last season's C Grade Grand Final when Port Douglas and United played off and United were eventual winners. United beat Rovers B Grade team in a rain interrupted game to advance into the Final when they won on first innings points by 8 runs.

There is apparently a cyclone warning off the coast which could wreak havoc with even these plans for next weekend. If the Grand Finals are rained off then the Muddies will be declared the overall winners again because of their higher ranking.

Muddies Skipper, Josh McConnell, however, made it quite clear "We don't want to win this competition by default, we want to win it because we are the best team in the league and that means we want to win the Grand Final on the day".

Let's hope the weather holds and Josh and his team get their wish... Go the Muddies