Lake Grace seal top-two finish in Upper Great Southern Cricket Association on back of brilliant partnership

A brilliant century from opener Kalan Joyce sealed a top-two finish for Lake Grace in the Upper Great Southern Cricket Association A-grade competition after an emphatic victory in the penultimate round on Saturday.

Lake Grace sit a game clear on top of the ladder heading into the final round, on the back of their eighth win of the season in round 13.

Joyce smacked a superb 106 off 134 balls as he guided his side to a commanding 218-run victory over Harrismith on their home deck.

Batting first, Lake Grace made a formidable 5-308 set up by Joyce while Jack Carruthers played an important cameo.

Lake Grace were 2-73 after a 67-run stand between Dylan Brooks (52) and Joyce.

Brooks’ departure brought Carruthers to the wicket and he combined with Joyce for a 165-run stand to take their side past 200.

Carruthers fell just short of a century, bowled for an impressive 93 from only 77 balls, which included 13 fours and two sixes.

Riley Spark (2-48) removed Carruthers but Joyce kept going, notching triple figures as he added 54 runs with Aidan Liddelow (27 ) to finish off the innings.

Joyce hit 12 fours in his unbeaten innings that lasted 162 minutes.

Harrismith lost constant wickets in the run chase, with their opening partnership of 34 between Ashley Groves (32) and Luke Crouch (3) their biggest.

They lost 6-22 late to be bowled out for 90 in 22.5 overs as Brooks starred with 6-19 for Lake Grace.

Pingelly-Noonebin recorded a vital win in their quest for a premiership three-peat.

They jumped to third after finishing seven-wicket winners over Cuballing, led by a half century from Jack Blechynden (59 not out) at Cuballing.

Four wickets from Tom Munns and an unbeaten 67 from Nick Corner guided Towns to a seven-wicket win over Williams in Williams.

Just four points separate Pingelly-Noonebin (third), Wandering (fourth) and Williams (fifth) going into the final round.

The UGSCA will meet on Thursday night to discuss their finals format with the uncertainty around COVID-19.

Meanwhile the Belt-Up Country Cup grand final between Albany and Districts Cricket Association and the WA Invitational XI will be played at Clayton Road Oval in Narrogin on Sunday at 11am.

WA Invitational XI were 137-run winners over the same opponent in round one.