Eastern Suburbs teenager Jett Lee has claimed his first five-wicket haul in the top grade to lead the Griffins to an upset 64-run win against Western Suburbs at Coronation Oval.
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Defending 224 the Griffins dismissed the Plovers for 159 to claim their first win of the season and leave the four teams outside the top four all with one win from the four rounds to date.
Lee, 16, was outstanding taking 5-16 to tear through the Wests batting line-up.
A proud Easts captain Michael Gavan said it was a break-through performance for Lee who had bowled well but had not been rewarded fully for his efforts.
"He has bowled really well to start the year but hasn't picked up the wickets he deserved," Gavan said.
"To get 5-16 is a great effort and there were some big wickets among them."
Gavan also praised Joel Connell's performance against his old club.
"He picked up one wicket but he was able to tie down one end for us and really put the pressure on them to score, which Jett was able to benefit from," he said.
Gavan said the win would give his young side a lot of confidence going forward.
"It was a really pleasing one for us, particularly against Wests who were minor premiers last year," he said.
"We spoke about it at the beginning of the week that if we are going to be competitive we need to put together one and two days of cricket consistently.
"I think that's what we have done in this match and it gives everyone confidence to know that we are a good enough team on our day to challenge the top sides.
"It's now a matter of doing it week in week out. Hopefully it propels our year form here."
Gavan said an excellent 75 by Lachie Wishart on day one of the match had given Easts a defendable score.
"We see the hard work that goes behind the scenes and Choc (Wishart) has put in so much work over the pre-season. The 75 he scored in our innings was his second 50 in a row," he said.
"Choc has been around for a while, but he is still one of the younger guys in our team."
Easts hosts Thornton in next weekend's Saturday and Sunday fixture.