It was short and (not so) sweet at McAndrew Park last Saturday, as the top-placed Bective East Bulls beat the bottom-placed Gunnedah by six wickets in a second grade cricket contest.

Gunnedah tallied only 44 runs, before Bective East lost a few late wickets to make the result look marginally more respectable.

The format was 40 overs per side, but an early finish was assured when the home side lost its last eight wickets for only 16 runs after sitting unstably at 2-28.

The first wicket fell in the third over before the second wicket fell in the fourth over, and then successive wides in the sixth over were immediately followed by the fall of the third wicket.

A wicket fell in each of the eighth, ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th and 15th overs, before the final wicket fell from the first ball of the 17th over.

Twenty of the team’s 44 runs came in boundaries, with opener Matthew Heit hitting two fours in his score of 12 which was double the next highest by a Gunnedah player.

Heit was bowled from a low and slowish full-toss, before the next three victims failed to score.

Braith Winsor found the boundary with a fine cover drive, before exiting a couple of overs later when he edged to the wicketkeeper.

All five of Bective East’s bowlers shared the wickets, with Shahid Khalfan the pick with three while Levi Morgan, Barnaby Munro and William Burke nabbed two apiece.

An error from Gunnedah resulted in five penalty runs early in the run chase, before Trent Winsor won an lbw appeal with the total on 19.

Bulls opener Richie Burke was ruled lbw to Brad Gander with the total on 36 in the 11th over, and then Luke Paterson was out first ball as he skied a full-toss to mid-off.

Trent Winsor held a catch in the gully off Charlie Haire’s bowling from the final ball of the 12th over, before Harry Morrow struck the winning boundary from the next delivery.

With an unbeaten 17 from 13 balls including four fours, Morrow was only the second player in the game to reach double figures.

Gunnedah will take on the third-placed Norths at McAndrew Park in T20 action this Saturday.

Bective East 4-47 (Harry Morrow 17 not out; Brad Gander 2-11) defeated Gunnedah 44 (Shahid Khalfan 3-11, Levi Morgan 2-1) by six wickets.

Blake Randahl made two not out in Gunnedah’s hefty second-grade loss.