ROUND seven of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade competition threw up some expected results and a thrilling victory for the previously winless Hamilton team, defeating second-placed Casterton District at home on Sunday.

With the Dunkeld Races being held on Saturday, all A grade games were played on Sunday, while the lower grades had the weekend off.

Dahl Turf hosted only its second game of the season and the home side was quick to declare it would bat first after winning the toss, as Nic Cullinane and Xavier Stevens strode to the middle looking to post a solid foundation.

The pair started slowly and posted 38 for the first wicket before Stevens (18) was trapped in front of his stumps by Carey Megaw halfway through the 15th over.

David Knight (two) and Hamish Cook (five) turned the strike over to Cullinane, as the veteran opening batsman took command of the scoring.

Isaac Shaw continued his development as a senior player, helping Cullinane take the score to 162 when the opener was dismissed for a fluent 108 from only 122 balls with 18 boundaries.

Shaw (18) and Tyler Ellis (22) took the total along to 196 before both were back in the pavilion, but Anthony Read (16-not-out) saw the final score reach 6-215 after their allotted overs.

Jacob Edwards (2-25) and Humphries (2-26) were the only multiple wicket takers for Casterton District, with Edwards holding onto his spot as the highest wicket taker in the competition after the first third of the season.

After the tea break, Casterton District began the run chase with Ben Holmes (13) and Oliver Foster (five) opening the batting, but both were dismissed with the score on only 20, as Holmes was run out and Foster was caught by Read to give Caleb Millard a key wicket.

Humphries (33) and Sullivan Gibbs (23) added 50 for the third wicket when Humphries was bowled by Cameron Templeton, before Gibbs added another 42 with Carey Megaw (30) for the fourth wicket to see the visitors at 3-112.

From that point, Casterton District lost 6-45 as the batsmen failed to take advantage of the solid foundation, with Anthony Read grabbing four crucial wickets to send the innings spiralling to 9-157.

This left Joshua Jones and Fletcher Bright as the only Maroons standing in the way of the home side and the last wicket pair refused to hand over their wickets.

The pair added 55 runs, as Jones (34-not-out) and Bright (17-not-out) were prepared to take the bowlers on and the runs flowed.

The final over began with the batsmen needing 16 runs for an unlikely victory but could only manage 12, as the final score finished on 9-212 and Hamilton had its first win of the summer.

Read was brilliant with 4-19 from his nine overs to lead the charge for Hamilton, while Templeton grabbed 2-36 in support.

Macarthur d Portland Tigers

MACARTHUR has posted a strong victory against Portland Tigers at Macarthur Recreation Reserve, as the home side won by seven wickets to send the Tigers tumbling to the bottom of the ladder.

The visitors won the toss and elected to bat on the synthetic surface, as Paul Procter (22) and Charlie Harvey (54) added 48 for the first wicket from the first 10 overs.

Harvey scored at run-a-ball pace, and his wicket was just the tonic the home side needed, as the visitors failed to make the most of the good start handed to the side by the openers.

Craig Blackberry (51) and Nikolaus Oakley (43) made the most of their time in the middle, before the visitors were finally dismissed for 220 with Charlie Summers (4-29), Brayden Buchanan (2-38) and Michael Brilley (2-54) grabbing the honours with the ball for the Demons.

Brilley (84) would then pick up the bat and lead the run chase along with Jack Wortley (26), as the pair added 104 for the first wicket.

Ollie Wortley (47-not-out) and Jeremy Sheehan (44-not-out) carried the home side to a strong victory with 221 on the board, losing just three wickets.

The Demons joined a logjam of teams vying for a top four place on the ladder with the win, as the side is now only a win out of the top four, but there are seven teams within a win of the final four with bonus points going to decide the final placings.

St Andrew’s d Pigeon Ponds

ST Andrew’s made the journey to Pigeon Ponds Recreation Reserve knowing that a loss would harm its chances of reaching the one-day competition final.

The visitors were without champion opening batsman, Brendan Huf, for the game after he tweaked a hamstring last round and wicketkeeper, Simon Hatherell, was also missing on the day.

Michael Fitzpatrick took the gloves while James Guthrig stepped into the openers role, as he and Fitzpatrick combined for a 77-run opening stand after Pigeon Ponds sent the visitors to the crease at the toss.

Fitzpatrick moved to 34 at just shy of run-a-ball pace before failing to get over the top of a ball from Lachie Craig and was caught by Josh Grant behind the stumps.

Guthrig posted 70, guiding the visitors to 5-213 with the top five batsmen reaching double figures, as the bat dominated the ball.

Ponds started the hunt for victory with a solid 28-run opening partnership, but Peter Staude (19) was the first to depart when Josh Nield snuck the ball past his bat.

Hamish McCrae (one) came and went, while Simon Close (28), Michael Close (one) and Anthony Close (zero) all joined their skipper in the shed with only 72 on the board, as the visitors took control.

Noah Hildebrand (29) has been a rock for the team at the top of the order this season and he and Josh Grant took the tally to 102 before Hildebrand was well caught by Guthrig from the bowling of Russell Elton.

Despite Grant (22), Will Burbury (29) and Craig (39-not-out) all batting well, the damage was done early in the innings and the home side was dismissed for only 185 in reply, as Latham Wishart (3-14) took the bowling honours for the Drews.

Tyrendarra d Gorae-Portland

TYRENDARRA earned another statement win, defeating Gorae-Portland by nine wickets at Alexandra Park.

Go-Ports won the toss and elected to bat first, but the Darras were straight on the front foot, as Lachie Kirk and Sam Wilson were able to quickly dig into their opposition’s middle order, having Go-Ports at 4-22 by the 10th over.

The home side found some stability through Ryan Gadsden (34) and Devon Miles (16), although the run rate slowed significantly as the pair tried to consolidate.

Ben Menzel once again stepped up as he so often has this season and broke the partnership, bowling Gadsden before doing the same to Miles shortly after.

He and Darren Killmister were able to clean up the lower order up until the last wicket, as Go-Ports held on to get their total to 100 by the end of the 45th over.

Menzel finished with incredible figures, bowling nine overs for figures of 3-6 with a whopping six maidens, while Kirk (3-15 off nine with three maidens) and Killmister (2-9 off four overs with one maiden) were the other Darras to claim multiple scalps.

Darras skipper, Cam Mather, ensured his side would make quick work of their target, belting an unbeaten 68 off just 49 deliveries in an innings of 11 boundaries, while Kirk (20) and Wilson (nine-not-out) chipped in to get the score over the line.

The round seven win sees the Darras claim an even more convincing hold over top place on the ladder, with just one loss to their name.

Grampians d Portland Colts

PORTLAND Colts weren’t able to get over the line in their clash with Grampians at Henty Park, going down by three wickets late in the piece.

Colts were able to get off to a reasonable start with the bat, with 29 from Glenn Hollis and 19 from James Chapple in his season debut, before Luke Evans stepped to the fore and added 34 to get Colts chugging along at a reasonable pace.

Colts found a number of other nice contributions further down the order but weren’t quite able to step up the pace of their innings, finishing up at 8-170.

Pumas opening bastmen, Donald Collins (39) and Ty Gilmore (38), set the tone early for their side in an innings dominated by their top order’s play.

Colts were able to break partnerships before they got into match-winning territory, with Evans as well as Daniel Kinghorn, Chad Hollis and Oscar Barbary all getting in on the action.

However, with all of Grampians’ top five batsmen making at least 27, Colts were just not quite able to keep them in check.

While they found some late wickets, 29-not-out from Daniel Jones was enough to see his side home.

College d South Portland

SOUTH Portland struggled with the bat on Sunday in their fixture against College, going down by 96 runs at Cavalier Park.

South was able to get off to a great start with the ball, with Shaun Lench claiming the wicket of College’s dangerous skipper, Charles Murrie, with Lench going on to claim two further early wickets.

When Rory Barry got in on the action, suddenly College was teetering at 4-40.

However, a half-century from Heath Schmidt and a patient 29 from Jonathan Jenkin got College back in the game after the pair put on 85 for the fifth wicket.

Tighe Warburton was able to break that partnership before it got even more damaging before South locked down some of College’s lower-order batsmen to keep the total below 200.

Lench finished with his side’s best figures of 3-33, while Karsen Edwards chimed in with a pair of wickets as well.

Set 176 for victory, South would have been confident of being able to get the job done.

However, they didn’t get off to the ideal start, with opener Scott Martin and number three batsman Edwards departing cheaply.

College was able to keep South on the back foot with regular wickets, and while Lachie Warburton was able to keep his side in the game, his departure signalled the last of South’s chances in this one.

It also paved the way for one of the more incredible overs you could see in cricket, with Adrian Burn miraculously taking four wickets in five balls, including a hat-trick, in the 20th over to put the game more or less to bed.