Superb Hawks win two in a row

IT'S no surprise that Ringwood sits atop the Premier Cricket ladder, and it won't be a surprise when Australia wins this summer's Test series against the West Indies

3-0, but what is the surprise of the cricket summer so far though is that Hawthorn-Monash University has recorded back-to-back wins against the odds.

Led again by the brilliant Dale Tormey, the Hawks overcame Footscray-Edgewater's 209 with just one wicket in hand in Saturday's gripping encounter.

Tormey top-scored with a relatively patient 93 from 169 balls. He now has nearly 400 runs for the season after just seven rounds at an average of a touch under 50, but his dismissal with the score at 4-171 could not have come at a worse time. He had the game at his mercy before trying to clear the pickets, and exposed an inexperienced middle order and set hearts racing.

Matthew Brooks chimed in earlier in the day with 26 in a 58-run stand with Tormey, but the talk of the town may well be 16-year-old Josh Henry.

He made just 18, but looked assured in his 83-ball stay t the crease.

Coach Wendell Perumal could hardly contain his excitement at the unearthing of perhaps another prodigious talent.

The club's reliance on paid talent in recent years has kept the Hawks from discovering and preparing its youth. Fortunately, they realised the error of their ways before the likes of Tormey and Henry looked elsewhere. They present an exciting future.

Back on track at 7-188, the Hawks again stumbled, losing two wickets for four runs, including Henry, captain Ben Cookson, and Dale Christie to a first-ball duck that left the Hawks needing 18 to win with one wicket in hand.

But the experience of Matthew Hewat adds much to the Hawks. He teamed up with Lucas Hoogenboom to knock off the remaining runs in a nail-biting finish. The Hawks now search for their third win on the trot against Camberwell Magpies next weekend.

Results in the other XIs didn't go the Hawks' way. The seconds fell 20 short chasing 204 (Sriskandarajah 48), while the thirds, chasing Footscray's 350, fell for 178. The fourths ended with a draw finishing at 8-253 (Bird 66) chasing 272.