THE race for the Dundas Cup has been whittled down to five teams after reigning premier, Grampians, suffered its worst loss of the summer against St Andrew’s in the latest round of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association (HDCA) A grade competition.

Round 16 saw some big upsets and some high-flyers brought back to earth by those teams below them, as St Andrew’s, Hamilton and Macarthur all recorded victories that maintain their winning momentum towards finals.

Macarthur d. College

THE Demons travelled to College Turf on Saturday looking to take it up to the ladder leaders, while College was keen to cement its place at the top of the table.

Jeremy Sheehan won the toss and elected to bat first on a surface that has become known to favour batsmen, as Matt Timms and Oliver Wortley took to the crease.

The pair were cautious in their initial play, as Lachie Watt and Jason Schmidt were miserly with the new ball in hand.

The first runs from the bat didn’t come along until halfway through the third over, as both batsmen took their time in getting used to the pace of the pitch.

They carried the score along to 41 and at the same time saw off Schmidt from the attack, but the fourth ball of the 15th over saw Timms (26) tickle one through to Angus Brown behind the stumps, as Lachie Brown struck the vital first breakthrough.

Michael Brilley joined Wortley and the number three immediately increased the run rate with some sound stroke play and good running between the wickets.

Wortley was the next to go after a very patient 17, but the youngster had done his job at the top of the order.

It was unfortunate that he didn’t go on after the drinks break, but Kane Uebergang found the edge of his bat and Brown had his second catch of the innings to leave the Demons at 2-67.

Kyall Timms returned to the team after missing the last two rounds and his form had not been lost in that time.

He has always been a watchful starter and Saturday was no exception, gaining the pace of the surface before starting to play more aggressive strokes.

Brilley on the other hand was happy to play with freedom and freed his arms to swing through the line of the ball when possible.

The pair added 79 for the third wicket in 14 overs and looked primed to unleash in the final eight overs when Brilley failed to get over the top of a Henry Bensch delivery and he was gone for 47.

Kyall carried on and after that steady start to his innings to reach 74 from 73 balls, including five boundaries and three maximums, to help the Demons score 68 runs from the last 40 balls to post 5-214.

Charles Murrie and Heath Schmidt gave their team their usual quick start with 16 runs from the first three overs, but Jeremy Sheehan was quick to swing Kyall into the attack and the champion all-rounder had immediate success, tearing through the Eagles’ top order alongside Kyle Smitten.

In the space of 10 balls, College had slumped from 0-28 to be 3-28, as Kyall removed Murrie who was well caught by wicketkeeper, Matt Lindsay, for only 16.

Smitten then had rattled Schmidt’s stumps for five, while Kyall then grabbed the wicket of Henry Bensch (zero) to put the visitors on top.

Hamish Bailey and Adrian Burn needed to come together and settle the innings for the home side and the pair carried the score to 3-90 at the drinks break with some very good batting against an attack that was proving to be very diligent with their line and length.

After the break, Bailey and Burn carried on and took their stand to 72 for the fourth wicket when Bailey (30) fell victim to Charlie Summers, who had the Eagles veteran well caught by Zebb Nield with the score on 105.

Burn (36) would follow only two runs later, as Summers struck another decisive blow to leave College nervous at 5-107 in the 29th over.

There was still plenty of good batsmen in the shed for the Eagles, but the Demons had a sniff of victory and they weren’t going to be denied.

Summers had the ball on a string and though his six overs cost 35 runs, he finished with four wickets to wreck the middle order.

Only Kane Uebergang (44) could be happy with his batting form, as the last seven wickets fell for only 84 runs, to reach 189 and hand the visitors the victory.

St Andrew’s v Grampians

WHEN St Andrews skipper, Brendan Huf, won the toss at Clem Young Oval, little could he have imagined that his side would blow Grampians off the park with such a resounding victory in their A grade encounter.

On paper it looked to be a match between two evenly matched sides, as Kane Taylor was dismissed for a duck from the fourth ball he faced after Carl Joyce found the edge of his bat as the ball passed through to Zach Burgess behind the stumps.

Once again Damien Logan joined Huf in the middle and the two were required to set the tone for the innings.

They battled against an attack that refused to hand over bad deliveries and the run rate progressed at a snail’s pace, 1-57 from 23 overs, with Huf on 30 and Logan on 13.

The run rate had to improve after the break if the visitors were going to post a score they could defend and both batsmen were conscious of this.

Logan (26) would be the first to make a mistake after the break, as Tom Polkinghorne snuck the ball through the batsman’s defence with the score on 107 in the 34th over.

Huf was the key to the Drew’s hopes and the skipper carried his bat through the innings to post an undefeated 77 that hauled the final score to 4-151. His knock came from 146 balls and included only three boundaries, such was the quality of the Grampians bowling.

The home side had been miserly with the ball in hand and the effort had set the side up for a modest run chase.

All that was needed for the reigning premiers to record a much-needed victory was to bat out their overs.

Latham Wishart and Angus Harms marked out their run-ups with the new ball in hand and were searching for early wickets.

As always, Wishart was set on delivering a nagging line and length that put paid to any thoughts the batsmen had of playing attacking strikes, but it was the pace of Harms that brought the batting line up undone.

The left-arm quick struck with his first ball of the match, as he had Grampian’s skipper, Will Collins, on his way for only five and from there the Grampians batsmen struggled to gain control.

In their opening spells, Wishart (one) and Harms (four) had reduced the Pumas to be 5-26 after the first 14 overs and the innings never recovered, as the home side was routed for only 44 in 23.2 overs with not one player reaching double figures.

Harms would return to the attack to claim the last wicket and his grab his first five-wicket haul in the top grade, finishing with 5-11.

Hamilton d. Casterton District

CASTERTON District may be on the bottom of the A grade ladder, but that doesn’t mean its players don’t push the top sides in the competition all the way.

On Saturday the Maroons travelled to Dahl Turf to tackle the in-form Hamilton which appeared to be a total mismatch on paper, but the visitors were up for the fight, pushing the game to the last over before a result was settled.

As has been its plan all season when winning the toss, Hamilton invited Casterton District to bat first with Rick Killey and Kaden Humphries taking on the new ball attack of Cam Templeton and Caleb Millard.

The batsmen were steady in their game plan and put away the bad balls, posting 40 for the first wicket.

Humphries (10) was the first to fall, as Templeton held onto the chance created by Hamish Cook at the end of the 13th over.

Connor Kelly (6) was steady at number three, but when he failed to get over the infield with a flick to the legside that took the leading edge and sent the ball skywards, Millard held onto the difficult chance to leave the visitors at 2-65.

That would be how the rest of the innings would pan out for the visitors, as they would lose wickets just as they seemed to be on top of the Hamilton bowlers.

The one constant was Killey, who posted 82 from 110 balls, as the high score for the match with another class innings that deserved to be rewarded with three figures.

Casterton posted 7-192, thanks to some good middle order batting in the death overs from Ben Holmes (24 from 28 balls), Joe McArlein (19 from 24 balls) and Mick Jarrad (26 from 18 balls), who helped Killey post a more than competitive total.

When the Hamilton run chase got underway, the home side would be in early trouble, as the openers were both back in the pavilion with only 12 runs on the board.

Tobi Cook and Simon Sharrock came together and neither are known for playing a slow steady innings, as both love nothing more than to go after the bowing at every opportunity.

They took the team through to the drinks break without further loss and had 95 on the board to have Hamilton well placed to hunt down their target.

The pair would post a third-wicket stand of 101 before Cook fell one run shy of a deserved half century, as Killey had the number three well caught by Mick Jarrad to finally grab the breakthrough.

Sharrock would go on to register 59, but with the fall of his wicket at 138, Hamilton lost 4-11 in the space of 18 balls, as the middle order collapsed to see the board showing 7-149 in the 39th over.

With six overs remaining and three wickets in hand, Hamilton needed 39 runs and only the bowlers remained.

Hamish Cook survived a dropped catch and then set about taking 24 runs from only 18 balls, as he and Jack McRae (17-not-out) added 33 for the eighth wicket.

As the last over was to be delivered Hamilton required a single run to claim the victory, but Casterton had announced they are still a force to be reckoned with in the remaining rounds of the season.