Cricket North: South Launceston's Angus Foster delivers epic innings

The Knights found themselves staring down the barrel of a collapse at 4-58 with Sisitha Jayasinghe (38 off 68) and Foster at the wicket essentially carrying any hope of a defendable innings total.

Far from feeling the pressure, Foster (145 off 109) obliterated the Orions' bowling unit in a superb counter-attack which saw him clear the rope four times and find it on 20 other occasions.

"We've known that Angus has got all the talent in the world and it's been really disappointing for him and for us that we haven't been able to see that but today we saw the absolute [potential] of what he is capable of and hopefully many more to come," South Launceston captain Sean Harris said.

"It's honestly as good a 100 as I've seen first-hand, I've seen Nathan Philip make a dozen or so of them and this was as good if not better."

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On the back of Foster and a wagging lower-order, the Knights recovered to 9-277 at the close, a world away from what seemed likely when Foster strode to the crease.

Chasing 278, Devonport never seemed overawed by the challenge of the monstrous chase as Brent Lawler (90 off 132) and Orions captain Tyler Dell (70 off 67) helped break the back of the chase.

The duo's 121-run partnership was high-quality batsmanship as Lawler's close to three-hour knock provided the yin to Dell's boundary-laden yang.

James Leake (3-58) led the Knights' wicket-taking as the Orions kept in touch through Brad Moore (37 off 17) finding the boundary multiple times. The game went to the last over in a nail-biter but ultimately the Knights closed it out for a 13-run win.

"There's definitely some deficiencies we need to work on but yeah we're coming off a disappointing road trip to Wynyard so to be able to bounce straight back is very pleasing," Harris said.

Westbury's winning touch continued in the Greater Northern Cup as they proved too good for the Sheffield Mountaineers at Ingamells Oval.

With a winning record at home, the Shamrocks looked to push their advantage early despite a tricky wicket with Nathan Parkin and Matthew Battle at the crease.

The pair produced a sublime opening partnership as they put on 168 for the first-wicket as Parkin (74 off 108) and Battle (90 off 137) confounded the Mountaineers bowling attack for the best part of two hours.

"It wasn't the easiest wicket to bat on, it was a little slow but in saying that they applied themselves really well and kept the scoreboard ticking and had a nice run-rate so it was a really good start," Westbury captain Daniel Murfet said.

As the saying goes though, teams are one wicket away from a collapse and the wicket of Parkin saw the Shamrocks lose 5-21 to quell their good start and end 6-211.

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Nasrullah Khan was introduced into the Shamrocks attack this weekend and made the perfect start alongside new-ball partner Joel Lloyd (2-24) to leave the Mountaineers at 2-4.

Khan (3-49) proved vital as the Mountaineers began to rally from 5-54 when he dismissed Sheffield top-scorer Marc Simonds (60 off 96) to halt the momentum.

"It was a probably a matter of time before he made first grade and he's got the opportunity this week and he's made the most of it," Murfet said.

"[Khan] was great for us and he was really great in the field as well so it adds another element to his game that he can field really well and do what he does with the ball."

The chase proved too much for Sheffield as the Shamrocks continued their winning supremacy with a 20-run win.

There was another tight fixture at Latrobe as Riverside snapped their three-game losing streak and vanquished their demons in the Greater Northern Cup.

After witnessing repeated collapses in recent weeks, fear must have struck through the Blues' camp when Zac Towns and Patrick Mackrell were dismissed in succession at 3-59.

Ramesh Sundra (51 off 92), as he had so often early in the season, took it upon his shoulders to steer the Blues to a respectable score after partnerships with Matthew Kerrison (30 off 48) and Peter New (38 off 42).

"When [Sundra] came to the crease, he sort of steadied the ship and was able to build partnership after partnership around his steady hand and that gave us the chance to accelerate in the last few overs and gave us a backbone," Riverside coach Lyndon Stubbs said.

"His bowling through the middle was terrific he came on and steadied it up and just played a really mature game."

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Callan Morse (50 off 77) was valiant at the top for the Demons before Kerrison (3-27) took the former and James Wescombe to halt the Latrobe reply.

The home side struggled to kick into gear as Sundra (2-19) collated four maidens through the middle-overs which left a lot to the Demons' tail which cracked trying to chase the win as the Blues secured a seven-run win.

Elsewhere, Launceston slumped to a loss against the vastly-improved Wynyard as the Tigers secured their second win in three rounds.

Samuel Elliston-Buckley (55 off 42) was exciting but Launceston lacked someone making a big score as Adam Daniel (3-33) claimed crucial scalps.

Mowbray also suffered defeat at the hands of Burnie as the Hurricanes chased the Eagles total with ease for the loss of one wicket. Lachlan Dakin (58 off 129) impressed for Mowbray.

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