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SOUTH Launceston leapfrogged George Town into third spot on the NTCA ladder courtesy of a four- wicket win over the Saints in a good game at the NTCA No.2 Ground yesterday.
The Saints made a competitive total of 209 batting first with Scott Driessen top-scoring with 60, off 64 balls, hitting two fours and five sixes.
Liam Johnson made 49 and coach Rohan Pooley 35, the pair putting on 90 for the third-wicket partnership.
But the Knights proved up to the run chase with opener Chris Hay anchoring the innings at the top of the order, top-scoring with 76 off 85 balls, including six fours and three sixes.
Teenager Mackenzie Barker batted maturely to score 70 not out in the middle order to see the Knights home at 6-210.
"George Town have had some good results and we knew they were going to be very tough and competitive," South captain Sean Harris said.
"We were a bit sloppy in the field after the Christmas break but not too bad.
"We always thought that 209 was an achievable score with a fast, dry outfield, so we weren't too displeased with that total.
"Chris Hay batted really well anchoring our innings and then Mackenzie Barker came in at No.6 and scored 70 not out and did the job for us and got us home - they were the two stand-out performances for us.
"Mark Nutting was probably the pick of our bowlers, keeping it tight through the middle overs."
MOWBRAY had a comprehensive nine-wicket victory over Launceston at the NTCA No.1 Ground.
The Lions made 151 batting first but the Eagles cruised to 1-152 in reply with John Le Fevre 73 not out and Liam Reynolds 41 not out, the pair putting on a second- wicket partnership of 107 runs.
Reynolds was the star with the ball for Mowbray, picking up excellent figures of 5-23 with a good second spell in the Lions innings.
Launceston captain Rowan Smith top-scored with 49 before being run out by Eagles captain Clinton Reid.
"It ended up a comfortable win but there were times when it wasn't going our way during their batting innings," Reid said.
"We would have batted first and it was a nice wicket and they were in a good position at 2-100 at one stage, but from then we bowled really well and were able to take regular wickets and peg them back.
"I thought all our bowlers bowled well and we thought 150 was certainly gettable.
"John Le Fevre and Matthew Scolyer got us off to a good start and then Liam and John carried it on, which was pleasing and a good way to start after Christmas."
WESTBURY beat Riverside by 100 runs at Riverside.
The Shamrocks made 5-217 batting first with opener Sean Stevenson top-scoring with 44 and Matthew Battle and John Kedey making 39 each.
Tom Garwood was the most successful of the Riverside bowlers, picking up 3-48.
The Blues were dismissed for 117 in reply, losing wickets early to slump to 4-51 and failing to build any solid partnerships.
Ramesh Sundra top-scored with 22 and captain Rob Artis and Peter New both made 20.
"We were reasonably happy with the way it went down and it was another good day for us," Westbury coach Adrian Tudor said.
"For us the only disappointing part was we had five blokes in the top order who made a start but no one went on to make a big score.
"With two-day cricket coming up, it is something we need to work on, because 220-odd in a two- day game isn't quite enough.
"We picked four spinners because of the nature of the wicket and opened with Nick Spencer and Michael Lukic, and Nick was very good with pace and bounce today and bowled really well."