The players may not be earning the six figure salaries of the international players in the Indian Premier League, but the competition has served as a good vehicle to cement the shorter version of the game in the area and provide a valuable pre-season warm up.

The Hill Top, Moss Vale, Bundanoon and Coolavin clubs are playing in the competition, and although no one is taking it too seriously, some impressive figures have been recorded.

The third and final round will be played tomorrow and Hill Top look set to take out the inaugural competition as the only undefeated team from the opening two rounds.

Hill Top beat Coolavin by 36 runs in the first round before accounting for Moss Vale by 15 runs last Saturday. The northerners have been busy recruiting in the off-season and new Indian recruit Samir Banga has made an immediate impact.

Banga took 3-5 and made 25 runs against Coolavin before top scoring with 26 against Moss Vale. Alex Martyn (30) also did the damage against Coolavin.

Hill Top skipper Simon Reid said he was happy with how things were going.

For the full story see the Southern Highland News, Friday, September 26

sport.highlandnews@ruralp ress.com