Saturday was a day to forget for Wests, but captain Zach Churchill remains confident that his team can turn their fortunes around quickly.
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Wests were outclassed by Balgownie at Figtree Oval as Cricket Illawarra's one-day competition resumed after the Christmas break, with the Magpies claiming a seven-wicket victory.
Churchill won the toss and elected to bat first, but was left to rue the decision. Wests consistently lost wickets as the home side were rolled for 106 in the 43rd over.
Abhishek Talwar was the pick of the bowlers with 3/33 from 10 overs, while Alexander Williams finished with 2/18. Jason Bunyan, Dean Watson and Callum Collings each took a wicket.
In reply, Balgownie breezed to victory in just the 15th over. Robert Fisher led the charge with a quick-fire 52 while Graeme Batty (20) and Adam Berwick (19) played supporting roles.
"It was really disappointing. To be honest, we probably had the worst of the conditions, but I batted first. It was probably not a good call batting first," Churchill said.
"A couple of us played some pretty poor shots. I got one that absolutely did something stupid, so I wasn't too concerned with that. But it kind of set the tone and we got bogged down really easily. It put a lot of pressure on us and we had a collapse.
"They really did execute well on Saturday. They bowled really well, they were bowling to an 8-1 field at one point and didn't miss a beat. Even in the field they managed a couple of direct hits.
"They were really good, I can't fault them."
Wests will look to bounce back quickly against Dapto next Saturday. The side sits in sixth spot with nine rounds left in the regular season.
"Finals definitely is a reality. I think, at the start of the season with the team we had, top six was a good finish. We're hitting that goal and I think that would be really good for us," Churchill said.
"Having said that, you want to always be pushing. We're not really a team that likes losing, so we always want to push for that four.
"We've got to make sure that we put some performances together and win those crucial games, like the one on Saturday. It was a crucial game but we just didn't perform."
Elsewhere, University strengthened their hold on top of the ladder with a six-wicket win over Corrimal. Angus Cumming was the pick of the bowlers with 4/28 as Corrimal were restricted to 118 from 30.5 overs.
Mitch Hearn then top-scored with 35 as Uni secured victory in 22 overs.
Wollongong also moved into the top two with a five-wicket victory over Dapto on Saturday.
Andrew McRae led the way with 3/23 as Dapto were rolled for 92 in the 34th over. In reply, captain Nathan Loveday top-scored with 27 and Matthew Crouch scored 22 as the Lighthouse Keepers claimed a convincing win in the 24th over.
There were two other games set to be held on Saturday - Northern Districts versus Keira and Helensburgh versus Port Kembla - but both were cancelled due to wet weather.