Wests’ Michael Rees and Thornton's Peter Gabriel turned the heat on their opponents with match-winning centuries in round 11 of Maitland first grade cricket.
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Rees was in imposing form hitting a century in boundaries in his innings of 130 of just 65 balls against City United.
Gabriel was the lynch-pin of Thornton’s innings scoring 115 of his side’s total of 227 against Kurri Weston.
An unbeaten 78 by No.8 Geoff Cooke proved decisive as Norths took their score from 7/230 to 9/298 and take the match out of Eastern Suburbs’ reach.
Wests v City United
Plovers skipper Andrew Trappel enjoyed front row seats as his opening partner Michael Rees tore apart City United’s bowling attack in Saturday’s heat.
Rees (130) and Trappel (64) combined for an opening stand of 180 in 21 overs before City United’s bowlers struck back later in the day to keep Wests to 9/302.
“It was a special innings by Reesy. He hit 25 boundaries including nine sixes and Coronation Oval is a big ground,” Trappel said.
Led by paceman Luke Keeley (4-30) Wests dismissed City for 130 in their first innings and sent them in again to push for an outright victory.
The move almost came off with the Plovers falling just two wickets short of the outright win, claiming 18 wickets on Sunday. Mitch Fisher was the best in the second innings claiming four wickets.
“To get 18 wickets in 80 overs is a massive effort by our bowlers,” Trappel said.
“It was an important win for us, but we’ve just got to keep winning if we want to play finals.”
Thornton v Kurri Weston
Thornton claimed their second win in a row led by Peter Gabriel’s 115 and a five-wicket haul by Steve Cummings.
Thornton posted 227 on Saturday with Gabriel receiving important support from skipper Jake Moore (33) and Cummings (25 not out).
Medium pacer Cummings claimed his first wicket in first grade and proceeded to grab another four as Kurri Weston was bundled out for 80.
“Steve came into the team three weeks ago and hadn’t taken a wicket in first grade until today. We’ve got some depth and real belief in ourselves since our Twenty20 performance making the grand final,” Moore said.
Norths v Easts
A half-century by Lincoln Mills and an unbeaten 78 by Geoff Cooke enabled Norths to post a match-winning 9-298 against Easts at Lorn Park.
Easts were in a strong position at 1/90 but fell to 9/120 and were all out for 170 thanks to Ben Sayers (4-27) and Josh Callinan (3-17).