Ben Taylor produced one of his famed lower order cameos on Saturday to help Rugby edge past South Dubbo in a hard-fought contest at No. 1 Oval.
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Rugby seemed well in control of the one-day match when racing to 0-57 after 10 overs in reply to Souths 6-188, but the Hornets spinners soon put the brakes on.
With five overs to go there was still 39 runs needed but Taylor banged a late 30 not out to get his side home with five balls to spare.
It marked two wins in three rounds for the men in sky blue and ensured they cemented fourth spot behind the runaway top three of RSL-Colts, Newtown, and CYMS.
It wasn’t all the regulars who shone on Saturday either, with a number of player stepping up to deliver for Rugby side missing a number of players to the Western Zone under 18s carnival.
Club veteran Glenn Shepherd returned to first grade for the day and after seeing his side win said there was no major focus on chasing down the top three at this point.
“All we can do is keeping playing the game in front of us and playing team cricket,” he said.
Souths skipper Mitch Bower won the toss and batted and his side was in trouble early at 2-24 after young Rugby quick Ben Rosenbaum (3-35) struck twice.
Angus Norton (32) fell soon after but Bower and Adam Wells got things back on track.
Shepherd praised Bower’s knock and the Western Zone captain went on to compile a well-made 76 while Wells fell for 44 in the final overs.
The run chase began in fine fettle as Hill (46) and Shepherd (40) punished anything too full on a No. 1 pitch which offered little for the bowlers.
Bower went for spin and when he knocked over Shepherd and youngster Joe Cant removed Hill, Nathan Munro (17) and Peter Karydis (4) the Hornets had a sniff.
Aidan Bennewith chimed in with a patient 21 and when he departed Taylor began to take over.
“We only needed 80 off the last 20 so we were in the box seat but they got themselves back in the game,” Shepherd said of Souths.
“They were right in it and we just needed one good over and ‘BT’ (Taylor) got it and found the boundaries and got us over the line.”
Taylor hit two fours and two sixes in his knock, with 13 coming from one Rajat Rai over while another from Wells went for nine.
It came down to the final over and with four needed for victory Nick Karydis (7 not out) found the boundary first ball to hand his side victory.
South Dubbo remains at the foot of the ladder without a win to its name while Rugby is 14 points off third place.
Rugby faces Colts next while Souths will take on Newtown.