DOUGLAS Muddies must now win back-to-back matches after crashing to a five-wicket loss against Norths in the opening contest of the best of three fourth grade grand final series.

Batting second Norths 5-140 reeled in the home team’s 134 all out to claim the upset victory in the 34th over.

The visitors win over the minor premiers was set up by an 82-run fifth wicket partnership between Ben Bergamo (44) and Josh Andersen (42no).

Norths started their run chase in shaky fashion, crashing to 3-13 and 4-35 before the Bergamo and Andersen stand steadied the ship for the away side.

“That partnership proved pivotal at the end of the day,” Muddies player Doug Barnes said.

“If we break that (partnership) earlier we would have given ourselves a real shot at dismissing them short of our total.

“But at the end of the day we just didn’t score enough runs. We’ve been scoring 150-180 totals and felt 134 was 20 to 30 runs under par of what we needed to score.”

Earlier in the day Muddies were full of confidence after winning the toss and batting on their home deck.

It wasn’t long though before the favourites found themselves in trouble after slumping to 3-10 off six overs following the loss of captain and run machine Ethan McCullough (4) and other key batsmen Nathan King (2) and Daniel Harris (1).

A beautifully crafted run a ball 50 from Jayben Bannan (65) resurrected Muddies innings and pushed the total towards 100 but from there the home side lost further wickets on the way to their sub-par score.

A minute’s silence took place prior to the match start to honour and pay tribute to Australian cricket legends Rod Marsh and Shane Warne who both passed away in recent days.

Attendees at the ground also used the moment to remember “champ” the Bulldog, Muddies’ much loved club mascot who also recently passed away.

This Saturday’s all crucial second finals clash gets underway from Griffiths Park No. 1 Oval in Cairns from 12.30pm.