North Albury batsman Ash Borella injures hamstring on eve of finals

Borella was forced to retire two not out in Saturday's thumping win over Corowa.

"I took off for a quick single and thought I had to give it a little bit more and tried to and, yeah, away it went," he recalled.

He wasn't assisted, but used his bat as a crutch to hobble off.

The left-hand opener has been diagnosed with a grade two on his right leg, which he also strained against Tallangatta on January 16.

A grade two is a partial tear, but it can take between four to eight weeks to heal.

CAW's finals start on March 13 with the decider a fortnight later, nowhere near enough time to recover if it's a five-week plus injury.

Borella was quizzed if he was nervous about missing the finals.

"Considering I've done it twice (in five weeks), I am a little bit (laughs nervously)," he said.

While Borella doesn't carry the profile of Wodonga's Bob Jackson or the handful of overseas players who have dominated in recent years, such as New City's Shoaib Shaikh, there's been no more consistent batsman in the past nine seasons.

Borella has been the leading run-scorer four times and finished runner-up last year to Albury's boom Zimbabwean import Innocent Kaia.

He hasn't been as productive, boasting 466 runs at 29, but if he's to miss an extended period, it will place pressure on recent recruit Matt Condon.

The former ACT captain also averages 29, with a dashing unbeaten 74 against Wodonga in just his second game the only knock over 25 in five innings.

Brothers Anthony and Tim Hartshorn also have solid outputs with 392 at 39 and 276 at 38 respectively.

"At the end of the day, if I have to miss a final or if I have to spend five days straight at a physio, I'll do it to make sure I'm definitely right for finals," he explained.

There's two rounds left, but North can't lose the minor premiership.

And Corowa's Daniel Athanitis was charged with a breach of the code of behaviour.

Athanitis was suspended for two matches, with one suspended, for dissent of umpires in the final game before Christmas.

Meanwhile, a catch by Wodonga's Mason Brown will take some beating.

Brown claimed a spectacular one-hander behind his back in the loss to St Patrick's.

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The Patties' Mitch O'Brien pulled a ball and Brown, who was fielding on the boundary, immediately started running towards the ball.

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However, he overran the ball and it looked certain to sail over him, but Brown stuck up his non-preferred left as he completed the 'speccie' falling over backwards.