Some nervy moments threatened to snap their winning streak but Rockingham-Mandurah took away the necessary victory against Mt Lawley from round 13 of the Western Australian Premier Cricket match at Lark Hill over the weekend.
The Mariners squeezed past Mt Lawley’s 187 with plenty of time but just three wickets to spare, to see them stay ahead of Claremont-Nedlands in the race for the minor premiership.
James Bracey and Brandon Jacobs put together the definitive partnership of the match with the hosts sweating at 5/81.
The pair carried the score to 153 en route to a final total of 213, bowled out at tea.
English import Bracey top-scored in the match with 65 from 105 balls, producing eight boundaries in his two-and-a-half hour stay.
Jacobs stood firm for 77 deliveries in his seven boundary score of 40.
The Hawks lost two second innings wickets before ruling out an outright loss with 3/109 from 31 overs.
Rockingham-Mandurah sit on top and hold the whip hand leading into the final series, providing they can clear their last two hurdles against Joondalup (14th) and Willetton (fifth) and Claremont-Nedlands can’t jag an outright result.
Second grade secured a big 42-run win against Mt Lawley at Breckler Park to put them in a logjam for the top six.
They currently sit in eighth but are less than a game away from the second-placed Hawks.
Ryan Done ran with Nathan Hutchison’s first week century to claim 6/101 from a marathon 33 overs to wrap up the hosts for 260.
It is the left-arm tweaker’s third five-wicket bag of the summer and takes him past good mate Aidan Andrews as leading second grade wicket-taker for the club.
Both men loom as pivotal pieces in shaping the team’s fortunes over the next three weeks and beyond.
