Nickol Hawks hold off Dampier Taverners in latest round of West Pilbara Cricket Association 40 over comp

The Nickol Hawks survived an early scare by the Dampier Taverners to claim a strong 47-run victory in round four of the West Pilbara Cricket Association 40 over competition. The Taverners got off to a strong start reducing the Hawks to 4-42 with Craig Lekneys picking up early wickets (2-29). Sankar Thiagarajan (35) and Clint Pollock (21) combined for a 68 run partnership, before it was broken by Jake Leahy (3-28). Some late hitting from Manu Raghuvanshi (26) took the Hawks to 8-170. Dampier’s innings started slowly with the Hawks opening bowlers restricting them to 3-32 after completing their overs. Jake Leahy (51) performed strongly, but with regular wickets falling thanks to Syed Ali, Dampier were dismissed for 123. Baynton Lions hosted Pegs Creek 2 at Leisureplex and after a brisk start Lions slipped to 2-41 with George McCarthy getting both the openers in the eighth over. Shreyash Desale (18) and Nick Hegan (78) then put up a 64 run partnership to steady the Lions with some late hitting by Shamsher Singh (35) taking the score to 8-221. George McCarthy(2-32), Boston Geike (3-38) and Simon Kot (2-13) were the pick of the bowlers. Pegs 2 started cautiously but lost wickets at regular intervals. Oliver Kot (55) top scored for Pegs 2 with good support from Ben Walkington (29). The Lions bowling proved too strong with Pegs 2 finishing on 8-181 giving the Lions a win by 40 runs. Rec Club hosted the Wickham Wallabies with the home team winning the toss and batting first. Rec Club made a good start, going to drinks at 0-96 after 20 overs with Jacob Innamorati and Matt Michael both looking strong. The Wallabies were finally able to brake the partnership removing Jacob for 65 but Michael was able to keep going and make 138 not out as Rec Club made 4-235. Nick Lewis was the pick of Wallabies’ bowlers with 2-39 off seven. The Wallabies run chase never really got going with only Lochie Smith (35) and Jason Mallon (27) putting up any fight as the Wallabies were bowled out for 101 with Richard Anderson the pick of the bowlers with 2-12. Dampier Taverners 2 hosted Pegs Creek 1 with the Taverners batting first but Pegs were able to take a few quick early wickets to leave the Taverners at 3-25. Charlie Fountain (26), Ryan Trewin (19) and Jarvis Hurley (24 not out) were solid with the bat through the middle overs for the Taverners as they made 8-136 off their 40 overs. The Crabs never looked in any trouble during the run chase as Jordan Perkusich made 50 not out to chase the runs down with 18 overs left to win by six wickets while Jarvis Hurley picked up 1-10 with the ball.