Hay Park edged out Dalyellup Beach in a close call to pick up their second win of the Bunbury and Districts Cricket Association season thanks to strong performances from Steve Florance and Michael Tassone with the bat.
The duo came together for an 82-run partnership that buoyed the Redbacks past the Settlers, as Hay Park notched the required total with just four balls remaining in the match.
Dalyellup looked to be in for a nightmare day after opting to bat first, losing their opening three batsmen in Mitchell Boyle, Corey Fagan and Rodney Shemeld with just one run on the board.
The forecast was looking bleak for the Settlers in the 3/1 hole, but a 92-run stand between Daniel Lomax and Paul Jones appeared to have saved what threatened to be a troublesome day.
The duo combined to breath life into the Settlers’ innings, with Lomax going for 45 before Jones carved out a patient but desperately needed 78 runs.
Justin Woods would go on to pitch in 27 of his own as Dalyellup managed to see out their overs for a score of 7/183.
Hay Park was off to a similar worrisome start when they lost Punya Bahl with just four runs on the board, but the knocks of Florance (72) and Tassone (60) would go on to settle the nerves.
Despite the pair both going down the home side did just enough to clutch to the win.
It’s Hay Park’s second victory on the year and has them sitting fourth on the ladder, above Dalyellup.
Leschenault def. Marist
Marist suffered their fourth straight loss to open the 2018/19 campaign when they fell to Leschenault on Saturday.
Batting first the home side were boosted by Tim Dyer and Tom Buchanan contributing 32 apiece, but Matt Buchanan blasted out 56 from 60 deliveries to put them into a strong position seeing out there overs on 8/188.
Josh Bradbury fought hard for 43 runs as he tried to revive Marist’s hopes but Matt Bowles snared 4/23 to help dismiss the Blues on 122.
Eaton def. Colts
Eaton’s pristine record remains in tact thanks to some blistering bowling from Clint Hewson.
In a game where batsmen struggled Hewson took full advantage, snagging an absolutely stunning 6/11 from his 7.2 overs to dismantle the Colts batting order.
Colts would fire back with a spread of contributions in their own bowling attack but fell short of turning the tide as Eaton rolled to its fourth straight win in a grand final rematch thanks to an unbeaten 31 runs from Chris Marrow.