PINNINGTON CUP - PATIENT batting by opener Josh Williams was the key to victory for Souths when they faced Macquarie in their round eight second grade clash on Saturday.
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Williams made 78 as the Hornets chased down Macquarie's total of 8-164 with more than two overs remaining, with the win taking Souths onto the verge of the top three on what has become a congested ladder.
For 35 overs, Williams toiled away in an innings which reaped just five boundaries after the Souths bowlers had earlier done a good job of restricting Macquarie.
At one stage the Blues were 2-81 before James Duffy claimed the wicket of Shane Dupille for 20.
The wicket sparked a mini-collapse and slowed the Blues' run-rate, with Matt Knudsen coming on and doing a good job to claim four wickets.
Souths batsmen did their bit, with Williams supported well by Knudsen (38) and Pat Brandon (25).
Angus Cusack was the best of Macquarie's bowlers, taking 3-19 off his seven overs.
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Newtown had little trouble disposing of CYMS, putting in a good all-round performance to roll the Cougars by 154 runs.
Batting first the Tigers made 9-231, led by contributions from Yogi Chawla (42), David Brown (29no) and Warrick Finlay (24).
In fact, eight of the 10 Newtown batsmen to get to the crease reached double figures as CYMS bowlers struggled to make breakthroughs.
John Hangan took 3-31 to be the best of the Cougars with the ball while the ever-reliable Brian Carroll also bagged a haul of three.
Chasing a big target, CYMS were always going to have to do something special but the task proved beyond them as they were bowled out for just 77 inside 27 overs.
Matt Burgess made 30 but was the only batsmen to go past 10.
All five of the Newtown bowlers got among the wickets, with Chawla backing up his performance with the bat to claim 3-13 off five overs.
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Rugby established their spot as the early pacesetters in the second grade competition with a six-wicket win over second-placed RSL-Colts on Saturday.
Making first use of the wicket, Colts could only manage 5-140 from their 40 overs as the Rugby bowlers stuck to a solid line and length approach.
While they didn't claim many wickets, they managed to restrain Colts' scoring options, with only some late hitting from Graeme Morton (49) and Blake Smith (20) helping them after Michael Ying Sing (29) made a good start.
Rob Childs was the best of Rugby's bowlers, snaring 2-17 off his eight overs.
Colts also struggled to take wickets, however Rugby's batsmen made the most of the benign batting conditions to reach the target.
Led by 48 from David Hey and 42 from Dean Lake, Rugby took victory in the 28th over for the loss of just four wickets.
Jakke Gardiner was the best of the Colts bowlers, taking 2-23 from seven overs.