A patient 94 from returning captain Trent Copeland wasn’t enough to stop St George suffering a three-wicket loss to University of NSW at Hurstville Oval.
Having been sent in by Uni skipper Charles Wakim, Copeland returned from a broken finger to help Saints reach 8-286 before declaring in their two-day, Saturday-Sunday clash.
Copeland was trapped leg before wicket six runs short of his century by Blaize Irving-Holliday. Darius Visser (46 not out), Chris MacDougal (33), Jonathan Rose (28), Nathan Ellis (25), Mitchell Edwards (23) and Luke Bartier (21) all made starts.
In reply, David Dawson’s unbeaten 112 saw Uni home for the loss of seven wickets.
Ellis again starred with the ball for St George, taking 4-84 from his 25 overs. Copeland went wicketless in his return to the side while Bartier (1-21), Matthew Lacey (1-30) and Edwards (1-25) picked up the other wickets.
The loss leaves St George with a difficult task of reaching the finals, adrift in 17th place on 18 points, 20 points behind sixth-placed Northern District with five rounds remaining.
Saints travel to Howell Oval to face finals-chasing Penrith on day one of their two-day, round 11 clash on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a Josh Moors century helped St George score a bonus point victory over Sutherland in their AW Green Shield clash last week.