Only late storm stops Uni

Amit Balgi blasted his maiden first grade century to steer University into a strong position on a storm-marred opening day of round five in Illawarra cricket.An afternoon thunderstorm affected a couple of games, but premiers Dapto claimed first innings points against a disappointing Helensburgh, while Balgi stroked an unbeaten 105 at King George Oval.Uni will resume at 3-165, after Balgi dominated the Port attack before the storm ensured only 50.3 overs were possible on day one.Meantime, the threatening weather arrived too late to save Helensburgh from batting carnage against a ruthless Dapto, at Helensburgh Oval.The Burgh lost 16 wickets in just 47 overs of batting, over two innings, including being routed for 40 in just 19 overs in their first dig.The innings would have been over even earlier if not for Christian Lewis' unbeaten 22.Dale Scifleet (4-10), Scott Sharman (4-18) and Tommi Bozinovski (2-7) did the damage, while Dapto cruised to 1-136 before declaring.Brad Young made an unbeaten 69, and Dapto are within sight of outright points, after the Burgh lost four wickets for 58 runs in their second innings. Dapto skipper Kyle Connor has 3-13.Elsewhere, Northern Districts took the upper hand at Hollymount Park, bowling out Wollongong in the 51st over for 182. Opener Dirk Cameron - who has already made two centuries this season - top scored with 49.Norths skipper Mark Johnson took 5-46, and the visitors will resume on day two at 2-78.In the other game, the thunderstorm stopped play early, but not before Keira had Balgownie 8-89 at Keira Oval.Balgownie had won the toss, but were always under pressure. Adam Berwick (23) was the top scorer and Neel Honavar has 4-26 for Keira. Ladder (after R4): Dapto 23, Keira 20, Balgownie 19, Wollongong 17, Wests Illawarra 13, Port Kembla 12, Northern Districts 11, University 11, Helensburgh 7.