Western Suburbs and Eastern Suburbs claimed outright victories, but Northern Suburbs grabbed the lion's share of the headlines and third spot with a tremendous bowling effort to beat City United on day two of round 15 in Maitland first grade cricket.
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The best individual performance of the round came from Wests' Harry King who took an incredible 8-58 in his return from injury to tear through the Tenambit Morpeth batting line-up and secure bonus points for the Plovers.
Norths jumped from sixth to third and only losses by Thornton and Tenambit Morpeth kept City from falling outside the top four.
In one of the most intriguing seasons in a long time, Kurri Weston Mulbring provided the one certainty and kept on their winning way with a four-wicket win against Thornton and top spot on the ladder with a reduced lead of 15 after Wests' outright win.
Resuming at 7/213, Wests were all out for 229 to give them a 113 run first inning lead against Tenambit Morpeth.
The Bulls needed to bat big and long to stave off an outright loss, but Harry King was back to his venomous best returning from his injury lay-off and claimed the first five wickets and eight all up as the Bulls were dismissed for 155.
Riley Harrison smashed six fours in his 32 off 20 balls and Sam Collison 11 to ensure full points and secure second place on the ladder with a 10 point buffer to third placed Norths.
Norths continue to exceed all expectations beyond their own with their second win against City United this season.
This time they managed to effectively bowl the much fancied City batting line-up out for just 74 runs, including five wickets for two runs, to secure a memorable seven run win defending 168.
City were in the box seat resuming on 0/87 and cruising at 0/105, but in a stunning collapse found themselves at 5/107 and all out for 161.
Norths shared the wickets with Cal Barber taking 3-37, David Hancock 2-35, Fletcher Cousins 1-31 and Josh Callinan cashing in with 4-12 for the best return.
After a disappointing season, Easts completed the job and secured an outright win against Raymond Terrace who put in a far improved batting performance on day two to post184 and make Easts bat again.
Lions teenager Jaxon Brooks continues to impress making 43 and Bryce Smith top scored with a quick fire 48,
After Jet Lee's six wickets last week, it was Dough Loth's turn this week for the Griffins. He finished with a season best 6-40.
Jack Bennett made 48 not out and Harrison Johnstone 20 not out in Easts' second dig of 3/79 to secure the outright.
In the final game, Kurri Weston Mulbring chased down Easts total of 140 in typical flamboyant style with Ben Herring hitting a six to claim victory with four wickets in hand.
Herring made 87 not out and continued his recent rich vein of form which included 92 for Maitland Flood against The Kookaburras in the Summer Bash and an unbeaten 95 against City United in the round 12 Twenty20 match.
In other cricket news Maitland take on Cessnock in the John Bull Shield final at Lorn Park on Sunday from 10am.
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
