Rovers receive a boost with opening batsman Callan McKiernan returning to the line up after representing the North Coast at the Country Championships last week.

Meanwhile Nulla enter the contest close to full strength.

Nulla captain Ben Taylor is wary of Rovers’ batting line up and recognises the key to victory will be utilising their bowling attack.

“Rovers have a good all-round team. Their real strengths are probably batting and fielding,” Taylor told the Argus.

“They are a youthful team and have danger players right through the batting order.

“The key for us is to back ourselves but also to play well for the entire game.”

Taylor is hopeful his side has learned from the past and will continue to apply pressure even if they obtain the upper hand.

“We have meandered a bit when on top in the first two weeks, but if want to beat a talented side like the Rovers then we need to keep our concentration and efforts at a high level consistently all day,” Taylor said.

“We are pretty much full strength for Saturday and all looking forward to getting back on the field after a week off.”

While Rovers and Nulla are the only two Macleay sides in the Premier League, Taylor dismisses a true rivalry between the clubs.

“There’s a healthy rivalry between the two teams but I don’t think it’s any more important than any other game,” Taylor said.

“Both teams will really want the win to try and kick start the season.”

Rovers enter the game winless, after they have played out two tight losses to start the season.

Rovers were set a total to chase in both of their matches and they were dismissed in both games with more than six overs remaining in their innings.

In their first match with the Port City Leagues Magpies, Rovers lost by 55 runs but had seven overs up their sleeves while against Wauchope last week they suffered a 13-run loss with eight overs remaining.

Rovers captain Danny Powick pinpointed this as an area to improve.

“We were dismissed with eight overs remaining (against Wauchope) and only 14 runs short of a victory, we need to dig in a bit more and play to what we are chasing and not put pressure on our tail to score runs,” Powick said earlier this week.

The 40-over one-day match is scheduled to commence at 1pm at South Kempsey oval on Saturday.

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