St Pat's Old Boys' Royal Hotel Cup title defence seems to be back on track after Friday night's easy win over Kinross, with the students' 2019-20 tilt officially coming to an end in the defeat.
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The Saints' first-up loss to CYMS left them teetering on must-win territory but they found some form against Kinross at Wade Park to pick up their first win of the tournament and some much-needed confidence with it.
The students had already suffered two straight defeats to open their campaign and with that their chances of featuring in the finals were minute, they're now completely snuffed out thanks to the six-wicket defeat.
After winning the toss and batting first Kinross started well, with Will Luelf (48) transferring his long-form purple patch to the Twenty20 arena and linking well with Harry May (27) to lay a solid foundation at the top.
But once they fell, to Hugh Parsons (3-13) and Ethan Ivory (2-12) respectively, the wheels fell off for the students and they were eventually skittled for 114 inside their 20 overs.
Only Max Powell (11) and Mac Webster (10 not out) cracked double figures after the students' openers, with three of their lower order all being dismissed without scoring towards the end of their innings.
Ben Cant (3-12) was superb with the ball as well, like Parsons he picked up three wickets but also claimed a run out.
St Pat's Old Boys lost gun opening bats Connor Slattery (4) and Andrew Brown (6) early in the chase which was far from ideal, Kinross' target was in the area most sides actually find quite awkward.
Tanvir Singh steadied the ship though and with his dig of 36 he put the Saints back on track although he didn't quite steer the Bathurst side home, that was left to Cooper Brien and Adam Ryan.
The former finished 17 not out and the latter was unbeaten on six as the Saints cruised home with six wickets and four overs to spare.
St Pat's Old Boys will move into a share for second spot with the win alongside first-game winners Orange City, Bathurst City, Lithgow and Cavaliers, all of whom have a game in hand on the Bathurst outfit.
The Twenty20 competition continues on Friday night when Cavaliers take on Bathurst City, from 6.30pm at Wade Park.
Orange City take on Lithgow the following week.
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