A century from batsman Cody Graham ensured Easts victory in just one innings against City on the weekend.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Easts won the toss and sent City in to bat first at Lambert Park on Saturday.
Captain Sam Uphill said sending City in to bat first was a tactical move to try and bowl them out cheaply.
"We also needed the outright win with Hillgrove beating them outright last week,” he said.
“We had to go in with the aggressive approach so we did that which was good.
"We sent them in and bowled and we actually bowled pretty well.
"The two spinners just tied up an end and bowled really well so it was really good to watch.”
Matt Jackson was the pick of the bowlers, tearing through City’s tail-enders to finish with five wickets for just 10 runs.
When it was Easts’ turn to bat, Graham made his mark with 112 runs including 22 fours.
Uphill said Graham’s innings was “brutal” and his patience early on paid off.
“They didn't bowl all that badly,” he said.
“Cody was just in a mood and anything in his zone just went to the boundary.
"It was a really good innings, he fought hard at the start and once he got through the tough stage he cashed in pretty well.
"It was pretty easy for Cody to go out there and play freely when they only 78 on the board which was nice.”
Graham’s innings contributed to the side’s total of 340 runs.
It was always going to be tough for City to chase down Easts’ total but Uphill said it was a tougher innings than the first and his side had to work harder to bowl them out second time around.
"We thought they may lay over a bit but they fought hard and Kyle Taylor batted really well in the middle for them,” he said.
"He was a big wicket to get in both innings.
“We got him fairly cheaply in the first innings but he fought hard in the second innings and did really well.
"It wasn't an easy win but we got there in the end.”
City have the bye this weekend while Easts take on Barbarians, who went down to competition leaders Hillgrove on first innings by 74 runs.
Hillgrove were again brilliant with the bat. Fresh from plundering 3-344 they piled on 340 before declaring four down.
Barbarians tasted some early joy with Nick Levy picking up skipper, and last round centurion, Matt Baillie for just 25, but wickets were hard to come by after that.
After sharing a 145-run opening stand with Baillie last week, Josh Croft (50) was again central to Hillgrove posting a big total, sharing a 156 run stand with Matt Schaefer for the second wicket.
Schaefer and Mitch Moore (32) then added 50 before Schaefer and Brad King (63) put on 100. Schaefer was unconquered on 153 and hammered 25 fours during his stay.
Levy, Chris Wild, Jarrod Burton and Ash Clee shared the wickets for Barbarians.
They were then looking shaky at 5-44 but Levy (64) and Clee (92no) orchestrated a recovery mission with an 84-run partnership for the seventh.
Clee and Damielle Landsborough (39) followed with a 72-run partnership as they made 266 in reply.
Schaefer capped off a superb allround game with 4-62 to back up Adam Thurlow’s earlier 3-40.