TOWNSVILLE A GRADE CRICKET
SUBURBAN Parks were in no mood to give a struggling Saints any quarter on Saturday, scoring a 186- run win to reaffirm their standing at the top of the Townsville Cricket table.
Sub Parks made a commanding 7- 279, with Riley Ward again leading the way with a quickfire 76 runs from 67 deliveries, including a pair of sixes, while Daniel Gartrell ( 54) and Mark Taviani ( 52) also wasted no time in their big- hitting knocks.
Lachlan Danby ( 3- 26) was the pick of Saints’ bowlers, with his scalps including Taviani and Ward, but solid contributions from Justin Dixon ( 33) and Chris Gartrell ( 26 no) near the bottom of the order kept the runs flowing.
Saints responded with a promising start, getting to 0- 42 before the wickets tumbled, with Jamie Heit ( 5- 28) and Justin Dixon ( 5- 16) combining for a devastating two- pronged bowling attack.
Saints opener Brett Weightmann ( 28) tried to weather the storm as Dylan Bycroft ( 19) and Mark Coventry ( 0) fell to Heit, until Weightman too was bowled by Heit.
Sub Parks got the big wicket of Brad Stout ( 12) – again through Heit – to have Saints at 4- 75, and fellow representative player Chris Thiele ( 2) fell soon after.
Dixon then cleaned through Saints’ lower order to bowl Saints out for 93 and hand Sub Parks full competition points.
“Saints were definitely undermanned and they did well to get a team on the field, but you can only play the team they put on the field,” Sub Parks skipper Taviani said.
“It was a really good win and it was good to put another solid performance together after that stumble against Brothers a few weeks back.
“We had five or six players contribute decent innings with the bat, and then Jamie and Justin bowled brilliantly.
“But you can’t bowl a team for 93 if all your bowlers aren’t applying pressure, so even though the other bowlers didn’t get wickets, they made a massive contribution.”
Wests entered the competition’s all- important top three after producing a two- wicket win over Norths.
Norths accumulated a competitive 143- run target thanks to Zach Myles ( 32) and Ty Snow ( 34), although strong allround bowling by Wests – led by Jayme Dunlop ( 2- 20), Glenn Seri ( 2- 27) and Daniel Kearney ( 2- 23) – put them in the box seat.
It didn’t go all Wests’ way, with the away team in trouble at 5- 29 as rep stars including Patrick Hagenbach ( 11) and Tony Hampson ( 5) failed to fire.
All but three players failed to get past single figures for Wests, but Adrian West ( 59 no) played the role of innings’ saviour, forming a matchwinning 76- run partnership with Daniel Kearney ( 45).
Norths’ spearhead Sam Collingwood collected figures of 4- 16 from an impressive eight- over spell and Matthew Toumazi got 2- 33.
Brothers were the round’s other big winners after scoring a bonus points win over Wanderers at Gill Park, bowling Wanders for 69 and then reaching the slim target with the loss of three wickets.