QUEANBEYAN'S Vele Dukoski helped his side to an outright win over Eastlake on Saturday, taking his first five-wicket haul for the club as the all-rounder prepares to make his debut with the ACT Comets against the Melbourne Renegades this week.
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But it was the 70 runs he had piled on earlier at Kingston Oval, his first half-century for the year, that had the 22-year-old's confidence soaring ahead of his debut for the Comets first XI.
''I've been struggling with the bat, so it's good to step up for the team and get some runs,'' he said.
''Getting named for the Comets game down in Melbourne, I got confidence from that and I've shown today what I can do, so my confidence for next week is sky-high. I can't wait.''
Queanbeyan started the second day of its two-day match on 3-102, chasing Eastlake's first innings of 204.
Dukoski's knock, along with a half century from Josh Connolly and 82 from Mark Higgs, put the visitors ahead by 100 runs, leaving 44 overs to get the outright win.
Dukoski, the team's leading wicket-taker this season, stepped up to tear through the top order, his medium-pacers accounting for the top five batsmen as he finished with 5-24.
Fellow opening bowler Sam Taylor helped out, taking 4-31 as Queanbeyan secured the win with 10 overs to spare.
It continued a strong start to the season from Queanbeyan after an initial hurdle.
''We've lost the one game against Tuggeranong but we bounced back pretty well from that and we've really put a couple of good performances on the board now and hopefully can set the rest of our season up,'' said captain Aaron Ayre.
At Stirling, former Queanbeyan player Blake Dean wreaked havoc with the bat for his new club, Tuggeranong, as it chased down Weston Creek's first innings of 373.
Dean scored 163 and received strong support from Chris Chellow, who made 62, and Michael Barrington, unbeaten on 40.
Tuggeranong passed the target with four wickets to spare.
Wests/University of Canberra also captured first innings points at Jamison Oval, bowling out ANU for 176, having declared on a huge 6-345 last week.
Akshay Nichkawde top-scored for the students but the opener was stumped one run shy of his half-century.
At Ainslie, not even an 88 from Cameron Suidgeest could help Ginninderra salvage its first innings against Norths.
Chasing 290, Ginninderra started the day at 2-13, and was dismissed for just 154 - 136 runs shy of its target.
