Liam Phillips
LYNDOCH left Kapunda on Saturday with its finals hopes still alive after a nervy two-wicket win in its Barossa and Light Cricket Association A1-reserves matchup.
Chasing 125, Lyndoch relied on a balanced approach with five different double-digit run-scorers, led by opener Ben Williams with 32.
Things got tense late, as the visitors went from 0/50 to 8/105 and seemed to be in a freefall, but timely tail-order runs from number-nine, Will Roberts (11 not-out) guided his side to victory.
Kapunda batted out the last 22 overs of the day, which only gave Lyndoch more momentum going into next week after taking another 7/54 and leaving no doubt about who the better side was.
Gawler Central leapfrogged Lyndoch into fourth place after a crucial outright win at home against Eudunda-Roberstown, with Josh Lourens taking man-of-the-match honours.
After taking two first innings wickets, and following it up with a 42 not-out with the bat, Lourens took another two crucial wickets in the second innings to remove opener Samuel Nietschke (4) and number-four David Cluse (9) before their innings’ could get started.
Chris Bilney was asked to carry the biggest load with the ball for the Tigers, taking 3/33 with five maidens from his 18 overs of work, removing the visitors for 111 in its second innings to require 46 runs for the result.
Gawler Central raced to 1/46 in eight overs to secure the outright win and now sit in a position to control its own fate in regards to finals.
Greenock extended its lead on top of the ladder after handling the visiting Angaston with relative comfort, cruising past the 109 target to post a 9/176 first innings score.
Greenock opener Sam Nitschke led the way with 54, while Blues’ bowler Luke Doecke (6/63) was the visitors’ lone bright spot.
Willaston won the clash between the second and third placed teams, dismantling the visiting Light Pass to take a 99-run first innings win.
Jamie Quirk was the star of the day, scoring 66 from 57 deliveries, including 11 boundaries.
In A2, the battle of the Gawler sides was won by South Gawler, convincingly winning the first innings by 134 runs before putting up another 6/146 for fun while Gawler Central spent some long hours in the field.
In A3, Brett Burgess’ 147 for Angaston proved to be the difference in its meeting with Sandy Creek, as even with solid contributions, the 255 total was 116 runs short.
In A4, Willaston’s Matthew Cotton played a superb all-round one-day game against the visiting South Gawler, scoring a team-high 32 runs, before defending his side’s low total by taking 7/9 from his eight overs of work with the ball.