A brilliant knock by Ryan Smith helped Mornington to victory on Saturday afternoon with the side beating Court House at Kitchener Oval.

Standout opening batter Justin Carter was an early casualty for Mornington as they were sent in to bat by Court Hosue. He was dismissed for eight with Andrew Johns following three runs later as Mornington slumped to 2-29.

Smith came in at first drop and made a fighting effort to keep his side in with a chance of winning the game and survived right until the very end, scoring 69 runs off 84 balls with two hours spent at the crease.

Henry Johns (18), Matt Agostino (15), Ben Hennessy (15) and captain Rhyce Kliendienst (10) all contributed to Mornington’s total of 183 in the 40 overs faced.

Court House’s Sam Doubleday led the bowling attack with 4-31 with Braithen Winsor the most economic of the bowlers with 2-16 off 8 overs.

In reply to Mornington’s target of 184, Court House was off to a strong start with a quickfire 31 runs off 24 balls from Kyle Gallen. He was the first to be dismissed with Oliver Thomas picking up the wicket.

After holding off Mornington’s bowlers early in the innings, the wickets started to fall in quick succession as Court House could only manage 120 runs before being bowled out.

Doubleday (21) and Farran Lamb (18)  gave Court House a sense of security at the bottom of the order with the pair combining for 39 runs.

But it wasn’t meant to be, as Mornington came away with the victory stamping its claim as the team to beat for second place on the Gunnedah District Cricket Association ladder.

Mornington will face first-placed Albion at Kitchener Oval in the second  to last game of the regular season.

To order photos from this page click here