Cricket
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TWO devastating spells from paceman Tom West has almost guaranteed Hanwood an outright victory in its Griffith District Cricket Association two-day match against Diggers.
Bowling on his home pitch, West combined swing and speed to claim a remarkable 8-12 off 9.1 overs to almost single-handedly dismiss Diggers for a humiliating 25.
Diggers had no answer to West's assault and were reduced to 4-0 at one stage as their top order capitulated.
In reply, Hanwood made 4-145 thanks to solid knocks from Jamie Whitworth (51 not out) and Brendan Hicken (50) before declaring and sending Diggers into bat for a second time.
While they passed their meagre first innings total, Diggers were still in dire trouble at stumps after being reduced to 5-48.
West was the destroyer once again, the young tearaway picking up 4-16 to leave him with the remarkable match figures of 12-28.
Hanwood captain Dean Catanzariti said Diggers' batsmen couldn't handle West's movement through the air.
"It was the first time he's used the red ball (this season)," he said.
"The white ball does nothing, but he got the red ball moving around a fair bit and they couldn't cope with it
"I also thought Tom Shannon bowled well, even though he only picked up the one wicket."
While Jason Hampel is 35 not out, Diggers need either a washout or miracle on day two to avoid an outright defeat.
If neither is forthcoming, they can expect little mercy from Diggers.
Catanzariti said his team wanted to secure the points as quickly as possible.
"Hopefully the weather's good next week and we can get the rest of the wickets pretty fast," he said.
"We don't want to muck around."
Catanzariti said earning an outright victory would help Hanwood lock down a top-four spot before the Christmas break.
"Our plan has always been to make finals," he said. "If you can do that, anything can happen."