Southern Districts 4/204 (45.5) defeated Tracy Village 203 (47.4) by six wickets.
The Villagers failed to capitalise on a fast start pitchforked by enterprising opener Harry Carroll (66 off 44 balls), a collapse of 4/21 against the experienced Crocs attack through the middle overs costing Tracy a much more palatable 230+ score. Carroll shot to internet infamy after a comical stumping dismissal against Palmerston last Saturday, however he is in the news for the right reasons this time around after a highly entertaining innings. Darcy Gregory-Francis continued his excellent D&DCC debut season with an anchoring 63* from 87 rocks, at the very least giving the Villagers something to bowl at. Wickets were shared around for Souths with captain Tim Garner (3/24) and the resurgent Andrew Bourne (2/31) dominating the back half of the innings.
In reply, Jackson Isakka enjoyed his promotion to opener in the absence of Dylan Mullen with a quickfire 32 to get things going, and despite Tracy staying in the battle for the majority of the innings, the Crocs were just a little too strong. Garner capped off a superb individual day with an unbeaten 59, complemented by a Lachlan Bangs cameo of 27 (25) to have the Gerry Wood Oval faithful comfortable a fair way out of the result. PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Tim Garner (Southern Districts)
Darwin 6/293 (50) defeated PINT 9/290 (50) by three runs.
In what was a high-scoring "batathon" on a DXC highway, it was apparent early that whoever went bigger better would get the chocolates, and Eagles openers Jacob Dickman (111 off 121) and Atharv Deshpande (111 off 123) made sure that a 199-run stand would see them hard-pressed to be run down by the Greens. However, PINT continued to fight and limited the damage with some clever spin bowling in the final 10 overs, although 293 still looked a significant mountain to climb. Again, bowlers found wickets hard to come by no Greens bowler managing to take more than a solitary pole. Dickman is in white-hot form at the minute, and made a blatant effort to target PINT's dominant spin pairing of Coby Edmondstone and Brad Ilott. With the two offspinners only taking a wicket apiece, the Greens struggled for inroads throughout the day. Deshpande looked impressive up top and will be a big addition to the Eagles going forward.
PINT started in equally impressive fashion, skipper Farzan Chowna returned to the top alongside Edmondstone and the result was instantaneous. A 108-run stand got the chase going, but once Edmondstone fell for 47 the Eagles tightened the screws. Chowna's near run-a-ball 83 looked like he was finally set to reach three figures, but once he holed out off Deshpande it was left to pinch hitter Nick Bembrick and wicketkeeper Connor Poulton to navigate the situation. Bembrick hit three twoering sixes to reduce the required run rate before Dylan McMahon intervened. The experienced quick knocked over both set batsmen and also returned to defend the total in the dying minutes as the match came down to the final ball. Ilott needed to find the fence to tie the scores, and a shot over it would win the game for PINT. McMahon's strategy of pace off had worked to date, and Ilott connected cleanly but picked out long-off on the bounce to leave the Greens falling agonisingly short. McMahon's figures of 5/55 were simply clutch in a superb performance. PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Dylan McMahon (Darwin)
Waratah 220 (48.5) lost to Nightcliff 7/221 (49.3) by three wickets.
Another cracking finish; albeit much more bowler-dominated than the Marrara clash. Tahs looked to utilise their new imports in Queensland's Aryan Jain and Victoria's Sam Elliott, but when Jain was bowled for 31 the Tigers slowly sunk their claws into the Waratah batting line-up. Elliott showed his prowess with the willow throughout his 43 from 50 deliveries, but once he fell the costly finish of 7/52 meant captain Jagadeswara Koduru (65) was unable to find a meaningful partnership with the lower order. Mansukh Singh's improved offspin netted him 3/41 (10), and opening bowler Zak Honeybrook's pace and bounce on an interesting Gardens wicket helped him pick up 2/36 (9).
The famed Nightcliff opening partnership of Connor Carroll and Douwtjie Hoogenboezem loomed as large as ever, but Madura Weerasinghe's wiles with the new ball saw him find Hoogenboezem's edge (allegedly?) and Tahs realised it was again a "spin to win" situation. Carroll pushed on to 67 off 55 (including four bombs) before captain Michael Kudra's calm hand in partnership with youngster Nick Fleming got the Tigers home in the final over. Fleming's improving batting saw him contribute 20* to an unbroken stand of 34 with Kudra, who is now averaging over 70 due to his unbeaten matchwinners against PINT and Waratah. Udara Weerasinghe delivered his umpteenth masterclass on his home deck to finish with 3/29 (10). PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Connor Carroll (Nightcliff)