With 32 games being played across the four tightly contested grades, there are sure to be some exciting fixtures and some changes on the overall leaderboard.

The local team, the Western Stars, are in a position in each of the grades to make the finals but will need to put in a strong showing this weekend to make that happen.

The Stars will take on the Northern Inland Falcons, Mid North Coast Mavericks and Coffs Harbour Cougars over the Saturday and Sunday.

In Men’s Division One, the Stars have overcome a shocking start, where they were defeated by both the Maitland Panthers and Charlestown Chargers in round one, to only drop one game since and look every bit like the side which has been so successful in recent years.

The Stars will look to young guns Wade Burrowes and Brock Larance to lead the way, while the experienced Jordan Peacock, Aidan Bennewith, Dan Holland and Justin Knudsen are expected to go about their work as usual.

The Stars are currently sitting equal first, but have played an extra game than their rivals, who will all play four matches at Maitland.

In Division 2,  the Stars will be without the services of Henry Railz, who has been exactly that, a star. Despite this, Western has more youngsters to cover the void in the shape of Adlai Shipp, Tom Barber and Tom Atlee, while Mitch Russo, Tom Nelson and Bailey Edmunds have proved themselves more than handy.

The luxury for Dubbo is that these players, currently aged under 19, all recently competed in National Tournaments for NSW in various under-age age groups.

Despite their youth, the Men’s Twos have played some awesome cricket and find themselves in second spot overall heading into the Maitland matches.

They will be looking to win at least two of their games over the weekend to solidify a spot in the top three.

In the Men’s Division 3, the Western Stars have been the mystery package of the competition, and it is really a case of which team turns up to play. At times the Stars have looked unstoppable, with Kevin Newbold and Mitch Lincoln taking wickets at will, and Mitch Grey and Jackson Peacock on fire with the bat.

But at other times the team tends to be a somewhat flamboyant crew with a have-a-go-and-see-what-happens attitude.

The Stars will be hoping that they are on song, with Peter Wark and Josh Wright also key to the team’s success.

In the Masters division, the boys from out West will need plenty of luck and will also have to play plenty of good cricket if they are to make the finals.

Standing in the way of that will be the three teams who sit at the summit of the competition. In round two, the Stars were defeated by the Falcons, Mavericks and the Cougars. Those results will have to be reversed if the Stars are to sneak their way into the play-offs.

Marty Nelson will again line up as skipper, with in-form bowlers Mark Dee, Scott Barber and Al Lloyd all making the trip.

Andrew Walden and Jeff Burrowes have showed some promise with the bat, while Stars will look to Heath Larance, Darren Davies and Michael Wood as key all round players.