After anchoring the Redbacks to 6-207 with a superb 90, Rixon bowled out the final over to restrict the Bulls to 8-156 in reply and ensure the bonus point for Norths that they just missed out on the previous week.

“Mick batted really well,” skipper Brendan Rixon said.

“He was pretty patient. He would have batted 30-35 overs.”

That was a huge effort in the sweltering conditions.

He came to the crease in just the second over with Cooper Barnes picking up Lincoln Peters the final ball of his first over, and shared partnerships of 60 with Glen Lewington (28) and 49 with his elder brother to have the Redbacks 3-124 at the second drinks break (30 overs).

Brendan said Norths did a bit of reassessing then.

“We thought if we could get a run a ball that would get us to 180,” he said.

“We thought that would be a good score.”

They ended up with 83 off the last 10 with Rixon and Kris Halloran upping the ante.

Halloran was having his first game back for them and launched two sixes on his way to 44 off 41.

Norths carried that momentum into the field, and bowled the best they have as a unit.

All the bowlers finished with at least a wicket, Tim Unwin and the ever-reliable Adam Greentree snaring two.

Bective were pretty well all innings behind them on comparison.

“Pressure was a big part of it. That came back to the fielding side of it,” Brendan said.

“We actually fielded quite well. I don’t think we spilled any really genuine chances.”

Rixon capped off a man of the match effort with 1-24 off six, Brendan deliberately keeping him back to bowl the overs at the end.

Bective skipper Adam Jones felt that last 10 overs of Norths’ innings was the difference.

“We had them 124 after 30, which I was happy with but Mick and Kris batted well in that last 10,” he said.

Jones thought Ben Halliday (1-46 off 8) was exceptional for them, and was overall happy with the bowling effort.

“Just some good batting at times and a bit of luck didn’t go our way,” he said.

“(But) 207 on that wicket was I thought was very gettable.”

They just didn’t perform with the bat.

“Three of us at the top got 20 but didn’t go on with it,” he said.

“One of us needed to get 70/80 not out.”

He was one of those that didn’t go on with it after getting a start, falling to Adam Greentree for 20.

Jye Paterson also hit 22 at the top of the order and AJ Pretorius 25. James Haling was the only one to break out of the 20’s.

He made 40 and added 40 for the fifth wicket with Pretorius. The points were by then threatening to get away from them, needing 103 off the last 10.

Jones’ disappointment was doubled when he worked out they’d only missed out on a point for not conceding a bonus point by two runs.