Sutherland became the first side to score an outright victory this season, hammering Hawkesbury at Caringbah on Saturday.
Resuming at 0-206 in reply to Hawkesbury’s 144 on day two of the round four clash, Sutherland lost openers Jarryd Biviano (114) and Chris Williams (81) in quick succession. Sutherland’s captain fell 19 runs short of a century in his 300th game for the club.
Jamie Brown (32 not out) and former Test stars Steve Smith (26) and Shane Watson (31) pushed the Sharks along to 4-308 before Williams declared.
Hawkesbury were in danger of suffering an embarrassing defeat at 5-64 in their second innings as giant quick Tom Pinson ripped through the visitors’ top order.
Opener Joshua Clarke (88) and lower-order batsmen Jake Wholohan (41) and Ryan Mizzi (36) added some respectability to the score, helping Hawkesbury to 246 before they were bowled out with a lead of just 82.
Pinson finished with eight wickets for the match, while Daniel Fallins returned from Sheffield Shield duty with NSW to bamboozle Hawkesbury’s lower order to snare 5-88.
Watson made light work of the run chase hammering 45 from just 23 balls including two fours and four sixes.
Biviano (27 not out) and Smith (12 not out) saw Sutherland to victory and a crucial outright victory that they will hope kick starts their season after a slow start.
It got better for Sutherland on Sunday as they produced a brave run chase to defeat Manly-Warringah by four wickets in the opening round of the Twenty20 Cup.
A large crowd was on hand at Manly Oval as Manly captain Jay Lenton won the toss and elected to bat.
Chris Green top scored with 72 from just 44 deliveries to help the hosts to 4-188 from their 20 overs.
In reply, Watson and Smith wowed the crowd with a mixture of hard and extravagant hitting.
Watson backed up his fine form from Saturday with 33 from 15 balls including three sixes, while Smith smashed 40 from 21 deliveries including three sixes of his own.
But it was captain Ben Dwarshuis who starred with an unbeaten 42 that got Sutherland home with five balls to spare.
Youngsters Austin Waugh (32) and Aiden Bariol (15 not out) also contributed with the bat.
Sutherland return to action this weekend when they travel to Coogee Oval to face Randwick Petersham in a one-day clash in round five.
The match will see Smith and Watson go head to head with banned Test opener David Warner.
Play starts at 10am.