Unbeaten Churchill century pushes Keira to top of Illawarra Cricket ladder

Keira won the toss at home and elected to bat against Corrimal, with Churchill coming to the crease with his side 1/38 and carrying his bat with eight boundaries and four sixes in his 131 runs.

He was ably supported by Mitchell Hearn's 89 as the Lions finished 5-290 through 50 overs. The home side then did the job with the ball, with skipper Rhys Voysey grabbing 4/30, while Blake Cattle had four scalps for just 34 runs.

Having watched his side go to work consistently with the ball all season, Churchill was pleased to lay down a solid foundation with the bat.

"I think it was good for us to put in a complete performance because I don't think we've done that too many times this year," Churchill said.

"I think we really struggled at the start of the year, particularly with the bat.

"Our bowling's been really good all year, so it's good to turn it around and, now that our batting's getting better, we're gaining some momentum at the right time of the year.

"We were really happy that we set a good total, we were aggressive, and then backed it up with the ball.

"It was a pretty complete performance and if we want to challenge and go all the way, we've got to put more of those complete performances together."

Innings don't come more complete than Churchill's knock, one he felt was in the offing through an, at times, luckless run through the present campaign, including falling for 80 against Wollongong three weeks ago.

"I definitely think it has been coming," Churchill said.

"I think I've sort of found ways to get out throughout the year. I've copped a couple of unlucky decisions, I got run out last week, so there's been a few times where I think I could have gone on to get a big score and I just didn't for whatever reason.

"It has been coming. I've been feeling good, I haven't felt out of touch, and it just all came together [on Saturday], which was good. I hit the ball pretty well.

"I was pretty fatigued, I had to do a lot of running, but it was good to get some runs, for sure. It's more about the team, really. If I'm doing it and it's helping the team win, or if I'm doing it in big games, that's what I want to do."

The win puts Keira at the top of the ladder on nine wins alongside University, who also saw off Wollongong on Saturday, with the heavyweights set to meet in the penultimate round in a fortnight's time.

Having fallen to Northern Districts and snuck past Wollongong with two balls to spare in two most recent meetings with top-four opposition, Churchill said consistency is key as the top four takes shape with four games remaining.

"Hopefully we can keep it going," Churchill said.

"It's a difficult one [to judge] because I feel the comps pretty split at the moment. I think there's going to be a pretty stand-out top four and I think it's hard to know exactly where you're at until you play those teams.

"We played two of those teams (Northern Districts and Wollongong) a few weeks ago and won one and lost one and we've got a pretty big game at the back end of the year against Uni.

"I think we'll find out then where exactly we are at, but it's looking good at the moment. We're building some momentum and hopefully, in those big games, we can come through with the result."

University also moved to nine wins after sending Wollongong in at Uni Oval, Darcy Knight doing the late damage with the ball to finish with 3/25 and help keep the visitors to 114 off 34.4 overs.

Alec Dobson and Jonathan Rose put on 81 runs for the second wicket, Dobson finishing unbeaten on 64, as Uni reeled in the total for the fall of just two wickets.

Northern Districts took 23 overs to move past Balgownie's 9/111, while Dapto needed less than 30 overs to finish 6/141 in response to IPCC's 10/140 (45.3).

A 90-run partnership between Bailey Abela (50) and Nicolas Nicastri (52) for the second wicket saw Wests chase down Port Kembla's 171 (46.3) in 27 overs.

Lake Illawarra opening pair Marc Ulicigrai (36*) and Mitch Farag (47*) reeled in Albion Park's total of 90 (32.5 overs) without the loss of a wicket at Howard Fowles Oval on Saturday to remain at the top of the South Coast Cricket ladder.

It came as a Dylan Rae half-century and quick-fire 39 not out from captain Brett Gilly set up The Rail's win (DLS) over Bay and Basin at Croome Road, seeing the hosts move alongside Lake Illawarra on the ladder with 10 wins.

Ex-Servos 7-108 (24.3) in response to Bomaderry's 10/133 (45.3) was enough for victory under DLS, as was Shellharbour's 4/165 (30.2) in response to Kookas 9/172 (50).

At Kiama, the Cavaliers fell short of Berry Shoalhaven's 10/174 (41.4), finishing 7/99 (35.2).