THE business end of the local junior cricket season has arrived with the semi-finals beginning this weekend.
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Last weekend was the end of the regular season and there were some outstanding displays on show.
One of the best of those was in the under-16As, in which Marry Jeffrey's unbeaten century led his side to a spot in the semis while Ben Wheeler also reached triple figures for Rugby.
Jeffrey scored 100 not out as Colts chased down the St John's total of 161 for the loss of six wickets.
Charlie Kempston had earlier scored 72 while Tom Atlee (4-24) and Jeffrey (4-29) were the best of the Colts bowlers.
While Colts went on to reach the target, Sam Fraser (2-37) and J. Jeffrey (2-20) bowled well for St John's.
In other 16As games, Ben Wheeler also scored a ton as Rugby defeated Gilgandra.
Wheeler scored 100 not out and also claimed took 2-28 as Rugby (7-185) defeated Gilgandra (9-132).
Baye Wallace also starred for Rugby, taking 5-15.
CYMS Green (7-170) defeated CYMS White in the other 16As game.
CYMS Green's best players were Tom Nelson (66 not out), Ben Knaggs (31), Thomas Munro (2-14), Dan Duffy (2-22) and Euan Truscott (2-26).
Sam Knaggs (38 and 3-9), and Mitch Russo (28) were the best for CYMS White.
In the 16Bs, Rugby (9-171) defeated Macquarie (100).
Pat Hennessy (50) and Campbell Rose (45 and 4-13) were two of Rugby's best while Thomas Isbester took 3-15.
Jessica Ball (3-13) and Samuel Henry (44) were Macquarie's best.
St John's (9-177) scored a big win over Newtown (82), thanks to Keiran Moore's 81 not out.
The best bowlers for the winners were Angus Wood (3-31),Moore (2-10) and Ram Haridharan (2-19)
For Newtown, Tyler Spang made 37, Kain Simpson took 3-25 and Dylan Hamilton took 2-29.
In the 14As, Rugby (8-202) proved far too strong for Wellington (43 and 6-65).
Dominic Ambler (53 not out), Jack Duggan (48), Ed Hennessy (2-3) and MacKinley Shipp (2-6) were the best for Rugby.
Newtown (8-189) defeated RSL-Colts (6-163), with Jesse Spang (50), Mitch Lincoln (35), Thomas Busch (34 and 2-20) starring.
Luke Holcombe (39 not and 4-14) and Nicholas Hangan (50 not out) were Colts' best.
In the 14Bs, RSL-Colts White (7-244) were big winners against RSL-Colts Red (138).
Thomas Peacock (53 not out), Jack Wallbridge (35 not out), Connor Doran (25), Archie Backus (2-12) and Thomas Shields (2-14) were the best for Colts White while Franco Marais (3-16), Dan Lambert (26) and Mitchell Campion (25) impressed in a losing effort.
St John's Yellow had Hugh Ridley (55 not out and 2-34) Joe Yeo (53), George Munro (2-8) and Ethan Barnes (2-18) to thank in their 8-223 to 195 win over CYMS, which had Pat Nelson (34) and Charlie Bryan (31) play well.
Darcy Chewings (51 not out), Jack Benais (50 not out), Koda Sissian (50 not out), Nelson Shepherd (3-11) and Ben Hoey (2-20) all played well for Rugby Blue in their 1-227 to 138 win over clubmates Rugby Red.
Lawson Shepherd (26) was Rugby Red's best.
In the final 14Bs match, St John's White (5-166) were led to victory by Sam McGrath (51 not out), Cameron Longhust (3-8) and Liam Lawson (2-14) in their win over Macquarie (8-154).
Cody Green (34 not out) batted well for Macquarie.
In the 12As, Broden Konz (27 not out and 4-0), Billy Whillock (25 not out), Rory Madden (25 not out) and Elijah Suckling (2-6) starred for CYMS (0-152) in a big win over Wellington (46).
Macquarie (5-289) were big winners over Newtown (6-123), with Hugh Sienkiewicz (50 not out), Latrell Fing (50 not out), Lachlan O'Malley (45 not out) and Hayden Bax (30 not out) playing key roles.
Michael Kent (36 not out) spent some quality time in the middle for Newtown.
There was a huge moment for St John's as they defeated Rugby 5-157 to 138 to record their first win of the season.
Jacob Fisher ( 53 not out) and Zach Warren (5-13) were the heroes for St John's while Tara Smith (50) and Rosie Alexander (2-5) impressed for the Rugby girls.
In the 12Bs, RSL Colts (3-147) won over Macquarie (79) thanks to big efforts from Anthony Atlee (26), Alex Draper (2-3), Paddy Reid (2-3) and Jock Stuart (2-11) while Carter Glynn (30 not out) batted well in a losing effort.
St John's Yellow (5-157) defeated Rugby (5-140) in a tight match where the St John's top order batsmen punished anything short and set a solid foundation for a big total.
Kane McFarlane and Ted Murray both retired with 27 and 28 and some good hitting late in the innings by Lachlan Smith (18) and Connor Sunderland (7) pushed the total to 5-157.
Ned Jones, Paddy Cant and Joe Sinclair took one wicket each while Sinclair and Dudley Shepherd also scored runouts.
Rugby also batted very well with Dudley Shepherd, Paddy Cant and Louis Russell all retiring. Jai Reeves once again contributed with 18 but in the end Rugby fell 17 runs short and made 5-140.
Wickets went to Cooper Donovan (2), Jordan Norcomb (1) and Lachlan Smith (1).
Kane McFarlane and Ted Murray scored two best and fairest points each while Dudley Shepherd and Louis Russell were awarded one each.
In the other 12Bs match, CYMS White (4-144) defeated St John's White (6-132),
St John's batted aggressively early and reached 105 after just 15 overs with Rudy Peet, Angus Boland and Finlay Hennessy all retired on 25 before the drinks break.
Finlay Hennessy impressed with his clean striking of the ball, including a massive six, but runs dried up after drinks with Will Dennis (2-6), Josh Bywater (1-6) and Blake Smith (1-9) all proving tough to get away and St John's were contained to 132.
CYMS openers Dorian Abel (24) and Zaland Yousafazi (14) got off to a solid start until Peet (1-5) rattled the stumps of Yousafazi.
Blake Smith made an impressive 27 retired before Abel was brilliantly caught by Sam Willocks off the bowling of Sean Duggan (1-16).
Josh Bywater (10) was neatly caught by Hennessy off Aswin Gurung (1-7_ to give the St John's side some momentum but Angus Ryan (20) and Ben Butcherine (18 not out) saw the CYMS side home in a great and close game.