A five-wicket haul from Cameron Bates and a 128-run partnership between Ricky Dent and Josh Trappel helped City United to a seven-wicket win in a high-scoring one-day match against Tenambit Morpeth.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was one of only two first grade games to beat the weather with Raymond Terrace suffering a seven-wicket mauling by Kurri Weston Mulbring at Jack Collins Oval in the other.
The other four teams receive two points for an abandoned game.
At Morpeth Oval, City paceman Cameron Bates tore through the Tenambit-Morpeth tail to prevent the Bulls from fully capitalising on an excellent 104-run third-wicket partnership between Lochie Heit and Billy Amas.
The Bulls were cruising at 2/158 before Amas was caught for 60 off the bowling of Sam Jordan.
They were 4/181 when Todd Francis had Heit caught behind on 69.
Then it was a quick procession with the Bulls all out for 221 in the 47th over.
The Bulls needed to strike early if they were any chance of defending their total against City's in-form top three.
It was 1/36 when Cam Wynn dismissed Karl Dowd for 11, but Dent who made 82 off 131 balls and Trappel 62 off 77 quickly snuffed out the Bulls' hopes as they compiled a 128-run partnership.
Tobias Van Den Heever dismissed both Trappel and Dent, but the damage was done. City skipper Matt Trappel 23 not out and Sam Jordan 14 not out combined to reach their target reaching 3/223 with four overs to spare.
The win squared the ledger between the two teams after the Bulls (10/230) defeated City (10/214) by 16 runs in round two.
Raymond Terrace's woes continued with the side sent into bat by Kurri Weston Mulbring and skittled for just 96 in the 38th over.
Tom Callan led the way with the ball for the Warriors taking 4-26 off 10 overs, including the key wickets of opener Jaxon Brooks for four and skipper Daniel Upward for 1.
Callan was well supported by Elliot Maher 2-7, Jarryd Moore 2-12 and Nicholas Neild 2-29.
Warriors captain Sam Dalibozek didn't need to call on himself or Jacob Simmons who had 18 wickets going into the match to be the competition's leading wicket taker.
Joseph Harden top scored for Terrace with 30 off 99 balls and Luke Thomas with 15 was the only other batter to reach double figures.
The Warriors took just 16.3 overs to reach their target finishing on 3/97 with Steve Abel top scoring with 53 and Lachlan Vassella 23 not out.
With two rounds before the Christmas break, Kurri Weston Mulbring lead the competition on 32 points, City are on 28, Western Suburbs 27, Thornton 19, Tenambit Morpeth 18, Northern Suburbs 18, Eastern Suburbs 16 and Raymond Terrace 5.
Round seven is a two-day fixture over two weekends and round eight is a one-dayer.
Round Seven games
Raymond Terrace v Western Suburbs at Jack Collins Oval.
Tenambit Morpeth v Thornton at Morpeth Oval.
Kurri Weston Mulbring v Northern Sububrs at Kurri Central.
City United v Eastern Suburbs at Robins Oval.
In other news: