COWARAMUP'S young side broke through for their first win in A-Grade this season when they beat the previously undefeated Dunsborough in their Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association clash at Barnard Park on Saturday.
Not only did the Bulls beat the ladder leaders but they won the game with 10.3 over to spare, just sneaking through to claim two bonus points for their victory.
After an uncertain start when they lost both openers cheaply, Dunsborough recovered strongly through Aaron Mott (29), Phil Watts (30), Tully Schofield (21) and Seb Watts (an enterprising 64 not out from 59 balls) to post a strong total of 7-185 from their 50 overs.
Left-arm spinner Rumesh Silva returned outstanding figures of 2-10 from 10 overs to lead the Bulls attack.
Chasing 186 to win, the Bulls had a useful beginning through teenagers Archer Coates (24 from just 22 balls) and Finn Barrett-Lennard (29) before the match-winning roles were played by Fraser Oates (66 not out) and Kavy de Silva (49 not out from 45 balls), who shared an unbroken 88-run stand for the fourth wicket as the game was decided in 39.3 overs.
Across town on the turf track at Bovell Park, St Marys scored an impressive win against Yallingup-Oddbods.
Their win was also for the maximum 12 points, enabling Saints to tie with Dunsborough at the top of the Yates Shield on 32 points each.
Led on the day by Justin Chandler, who also scored 39 runs, Saints showed plenty of depth when they batted first and made 199 from 48.4 overs, enjoying useful batting contributions down the order from Ryan Lohr (42) and Peter Grygorcewicz (35 from 20 balls).
Left-arm quick Matt Connaughton and offspinner Ben Payne claimed three scalps each for Yallingup-Oddbods.
Seeking 200 to win, Yallingup-Oddbods were destroyed by an in-form St Marys president Ben Mattock, who claimed a career-best 5 for 26 as YOBS were bowled out for 107.
Mattock now has 13 wickets this season to put him in the lead in the A-Grade bowling aggregates.
Chris Brook (20) and the promisingly named Bradman May (20 on debut) topped the batting for YOBS, while Peter G. (2-2) completed a fine allround performance for Saints.
In B-Grade cricket, Vasse had the better of Dunsborough in a high-scoring affair at the Dunsborough Playing Fields.
Led by Shankar Madhusudan (73), Nathan Bradbury (74) and Tom Perks (49 not out), all scoring at a run a ball or better, Vasse amassed 7-261 from 45 overs. Dunsborough were dismissed for 187 in reply.
On the synthetic wicket at Bovell Park, Yallingup-Oddbods continued to search for their first win of the season in vain, this time being vanquished by St Marys.
Batting first, YOBS were dismissed for 102, with James Taylor (22) topping the score and Matt Snaddon and Jack Brockliss claiming three wickets each for Saints.
Saints lost a couple of early wickets before Ben Taylor (54) steadied the ship and got his side home by seven wickets with nearly 20 overs to spare.
In C-Grade cricket there were two thrilling finishes. At Churchill Park, YOBS Academy (8-160) held off a fast finishing St Marys (4-156, with Bailey Ford hitting 39) to claim victory by 4 runs.
Down at Cowaramup an even closer game was played, with Yallingup-Oddbods (209 all out, Josh Manning 58 and Paul Haynes 54) just pipped at the post by Cowaramup, who responded with 9-210 to win by a solitary wicket with just four balls to spare.
Jude Bowler-Wright continued his outstanding patch of form with 60 runs for the victors.
Vasse continued their unbeaten start to the season when they ventured to Nannup and won a competitive affair against Troy Rasmussen's young charges.
A fine allround performance by Jack O'Malley helped clinch the game for Vasse. He scored 54 from 41 balls and then took 2-17 as Vasse (164) just held off Nannup (7-134).
Rasmussen claimed 4-22 while veteran Pieter Bresser hit a fine 52 for the home side.
On the turf track at Dunsborough, Dunsborough (118) were outplayed by Margaret River Hawks (4-121), with George Worsley (37) topping the score for the winners. Earlier, Izaac Trainer and Chris Dudley also hit 37 for Dunsborough.