Despite it being the South Dubbo Hornets' turn to bat, it was the Newtown Tigers that ended up doing some of the most impactful running during Saturday's RSL Whitney Cup clash.
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Mat Skinner's Newtown side ended up tallying up five run-outs during the game, with the Tigers' fielders stopping the Hornets' batting lineup in their tracks and earning a valuable bonus-point win for their efforts.
"It was pressure and good fielding from us, there were a few questionable calls between the wickets from their blokes, and we managed to capitalise on that," Skinner said of the unusual haul.
"Mitch Russo was awesome for us. He got three of those run-outs himself."
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Trent Smith and Steve Skinner secured the other two dismissals, stalling the middle of the Souths batting order and helping hold them to a total of 115 after a strong start by opening batsman Greg Rummans.
"Rummo came out and he was pretty aggressive at first and chanced his hand earlier, and it came off for him; a class bat like him, he only needs to get a few out of the guts to get going," Skinner said.
Rummans managed 55 runs, with eight 4s and a single 6 starting his side off in earnest before Skinner was able to bowl the veteran out.
"Once we got him out, we bowled a couple of tight overs and blokes were taking it on the arm when they didn't need to, stuff like that and we were able to get there."
The opening batting was also key for Newtown, with Skinner putting up a respectable 82 runs with a smattering of balls that hit the boundary early in Newtown's innings before being bowled out by Souths' Mat Finlay.
Newtown's run total stood at 178 by the end of their innings, with Dough Potter contributing 34 runs to that total.
The win and the extra point will give Newtown some breathing room heading into the middle of what's been a very tightly contested season.
"It was good; we got the win, we ended up getting that bonus point which is very helpful; I wouldn't have thought we were going to get that halfway through the game, we knew we had to play some good cricket to do it," Skinner said.
"It's very, very tight at the moment, and everyone's beating everyone at the moment, you can't go into any game thinking you're going to beat that team."
"You've got to really work to try and scrape up each win, which makes for a good competition right now, in the past, we've had those seasons where the top three teams have stood out early, and you can go into games expecting to win or knowing whether you're likely to get beat, but not this year."
The Newtown Tigers will next face the RSL Colts on Saturday, November 30.
