Kooringal Colts consolidated third place with a win over Wagga City on Saturday.
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Both teams had a shot at qualifying for the one-day final, but South Wagga’s victory over Lake Albert ended any of their chances.
The Colts got home with two balls and three wickets in hand.
Captain-coach David Bolton was pleased to get another win.
“It was a good result for us,” Bolton said. “It is good to be three and two instead of the other way around.
“It isn’t a bad result from the one-dayers and hopefully we’ve got a little bit of improvement there which can set us up for a strong two-day portion of the season.”
Bolton led the way with the bat, top scoring with 71.
After Wagga City were finished its 40 overs at 5-160, Bolton was the anchor for the run chase.
While disappointed to get out before the job was finished, he was pleased by how Max Hillier was able to guide his team home in the final over.
Bolton and Hillier put on 65 for the sixth wicket, but the Colts still needed 18 runs for victory when Jon Nicoll snared the key wicket.
However, the Cats couldn’t trap Hillier, who struck the winning runs to finish unbeaten on 49.
“We had a bit of a stumble there for a little bit, but Max batted really maturely for his age and saw us across the line in the last over,” Bolton said.
“It was a really good innings from Max.”
We had a bit of a stumble there for a little bit, but Max (Hillier) batted really maturely for his age and saw us across the line in the last over.
- David Bolton
Nicoll continued his brilliant form with the bat.
The competition’s leading runscorer added 78 more to his tally and has now scored 274 runs in four matches at an average of 137.50.
He and fellow opener Josh Thompson got the Cats off to the perfect start, putting on 77 for the first wicket, before Brenden O’Reilly struck, sending Thompson back to the sheds for 28.
Led by Marc Vincent, the Colts bowlers were able to consistently pick up wickets.
“We pegged them back nicely,” Bolton said.
“Josh and Jono batted really well so we struggled to get the first breakthrough but our spinners bowled really well and Vinny as well.
“Andy Stanham, in his third game, bowled well.
“We fielded pretty well again so we did a good job to restrict them to 160.”
Vincent finished his eight overs with figures of 3-34.
Both of the Colts’ losses have been to the higher placed South Wagga and Lake Albert and they will be looking to score back-to-back wins for the first time this season against St Michaels on December 17.