Wests finish best in outright victory

WESTERN Districts has claimed a rare outright victory to stamp its authority on the the TCI A-grade competition.

Metropolitan-Easts bowler Dan Brown against University in round two A grade Toowoomba Cricket at Harristown Park, Saturday, November 30, 2019. Picture: Kevin Farmer

CRICKET: Defending champions Western Districts have sounded an ominous warning to the rest of the competition, following an outright TCI A-grade victory over Southern Districts.

Starting the day at 4/297, Brian May (105*) was able to secure another century, as he and Matt Hallas added another 40 to the total inside six overs.

That meant Souths required 269 runs, or to bat out the day, to avoid outright defeat.

The Magpies progressively ticked along to start their second innings with a handy 17 to Brendan Barnett.

A mid-order collapse saw them drop from 2/38 to 5/38 in the space of three overs, as Scott Schultz (5/44) made the most of his opportunity in the top grade.

Harjinder Dhillon (60) was able to provide some resistance and keep Souths' hopes of batting out the day alive, before captain Luke Neale was able to remove him, giving Wests victory by an innings and 130 runs.

Neale said they came into the second day hunting maximum points, and was happy their bowlers could get it done.

"It was a really pleasing result. Outright wins are hard to come by, and obviously we played a good game to achieve that," he said.

"In terms of bonus points, it was really important for us to get as many runs as we could (to start the day), but we didn't want to risk batting too long and not leaving enough time.

"Scott bowled really well. He's been in and out of A-grade but made his mark yesterday. We're not going to have everyone available every week, so it is good that he was able to really step up."

It sets up a mouth-watering encounter with Metropolitan-Easts this weekend, who escaped with a narrow 17-run first innings win over University.

Mets face Uni

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Chasing 285 for victory, University was cruising at 6/261 courtesy of big knocks to Alex Taylor (71) and James Bidgood (48).

However the Trojans dug deep, taking the last four wickets for just seven runs, with Paul Toohey (4/31) and Dan Brown (4/44) leading the way.

The other fixture saw Northern Brothers Diggers (157 and 4/173) edge out Highfields Railways (122).

Ben Woolacott's unbeaten 60 wasn't enough as Jace Hudson took five wickets.

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