Reigning premiers Pingelly-Noonebin secure first victory on back of terrific ton from Jack Blechynden

A superb century from Jack Blechynden powered reigning premiers Pingelly-Noonebin to their first win of the Upper Great Southern Cricket Association A-grade season on Saturday. Pingelly-Noonebin finished 79-run victors over Towns in round two at Narrogin to recover from a disappointing opening-round loss. Blechynden made 107 from 121 balls, including nine fours and two sixes in his terrific innings to guide his side to victory. Pingelly-Noonebin posted 3-249 from their 45 overs batting first on the back of a stellar opening partnership in which Blechynden and Luke Brown put together 145 runs to help their side get into a winning position. The partnership was broken when Brown was caught for 59 but Pingelly-Noonebin kept punishing Towns’ bowlers as Tyson Kirk joined Blechynden at the crease. The pair took their side towards 200 after adding 50. However Tyson Kirk was caught and in the same over Blechynden was removed as Pingelly-Noonebin fell to 3-195. Dylan Kirk (25) and Brett Blechynden (27) finished off the innings with a 53-run partnership. Ruben Scheepers snared 2-55 off his nine overs for Towns. In reply, Towns suffered a batting collapse and were bowled out for 170. Opener Perrin Quartermaine was his side’s second wicket to fall after he made 20. However Nick Corner and Liam Sweeney took their team towards victory with an 85-run partnership before Corner was removed for 65 and Sweeney was caught for 37. Towns lost their final eight wickets for 31 runs in a disappointing collapse from a strong position. Dylan Kirk took 3-14 off six overs in a devastating spell while Jordan Boladeras chipped in with 2-11. Meanwhile, a brilliant innings from Rodney Ford guided Williams to their first win of the season as they downed Harrismith by 25 runs in Williams. Batting first, Williams posted 6-194 after Ford whacked 87 and Kim Rintoul added 44. Despite the best efforts of Arron Quartermaine, Harrismith ran out of overs to finish on 8-169. Quartermaine made 67 and Caen Taylor added 44 while Tim Sattler snared 2-33 for Williams. Lake Grace remain undefeated after a narrow six-run win over Wandering in Lake Grace. Kane Pinney (59 not out), Kalan Joyce (57) and Matt Trevenen (49) helped Lake Grace post 2-191 batting first. Wandering could only manage 8-185 in reply. The away side fell just short despite the best efforts of Troy Warburton (34 not out) and Jacob Schorer who made 57. Karl Fleay snared 3-31 while Ron Enright took 2-40.