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Illawarra was handed a lesson in handling the big moments in the Sydney Twenty20 Cup after two tough losses at Chatswood Oval on Sunday.
Illawarra was beaten by a solitary run by Sydney, then lost by 28 runs to Gordon in the second of the double-header.
In both games the visitors bowled first and left themselves in a strong position to win with the bat, but couldn't finish the job.
Against Sydney, Dale Sciflett took 3-15 as Sydney were held to 7-143 in perfect batting conditions.
Illawarra were in the driving seat in the run chase but a couple of unproductive overs around the 16-over mark left them too much to do and they finished agonisingly short at 6-142.
Olly Thompson (62) batted well, while Mitch Calder (37 not out) struck a towering boundary off the final delivery, landing barely a metre from being a six which would have won Illawarra the match.
In their second game, Gordon batted first and started well but were reined in by the Illawarra attack and held to a reasonable score of 142.
Thompson took 3-25 and Xavier McDevitt 2-13.
Illawarra skipper David Murphy then hammered 38 off 18 balls to have the visitors 1-51 after six overs, but from 3-70 Illawarra lost 7-44 to be bowled out for 114.
Teenager Jarrod Colliss (30 not out) showed poise but Illawarra finished the T20 tournament with four losses, which didn't tell the true story of how competitive they were in every match.
With nine new players in the senior squad and the region's stand-out batsman Graeme Batty having left for Sydney Grade, it was never going to be easy to beat the top Sydney clubs.
But the experiences of the past fortnight will benefit a young squad with Illawarra now focusing on the NSW Country Championships on November 28-30.