Campbelltown Camden have started the New Year the way they finished the last one by cruising to another victory.
The Ghosts easily reached the 205 run target set by Penrith yesterday in the round nine limited overs match at Howell Oval, Penrith.
Campbelltown Camden, who are still undefeated at the halfway mark of the premiership, sit at the top of the table with 44 points, two ahead of Sutherland.
Ghosts and the Shire club have opened up a reasonable gap between themselves and teams coming third and fourth, Sydney University and Parramatta, who are on 37 and 34 respectively.
Sydney, also on 34 points, and Bankstown (33) make up the top six.
Batting first, Penrith crashed to five for 75, justifying the Ghosts’ decision to send them in after winning the toss.
But the home side made a solid recovery in reaching a slightly below par total of 204 off 47.3 overs.
Luke Webb (1), Iain Carlisle (1), Samuel Skelly (1), Jordan Browne (2) and Nathan Baker were all among the wickets in a real team effort in the hot conditions at Penrith.
But once again it was skipper Jarrad Burke with the standout figures.
Burke took three wickets for 16 runs off his 8.3 overs.
When Burke picked up his second wicket of the day he became just the third player to reach the 10,000 run and 600 wickets double in Sydney grade cricket since 1893.
At the start of play the Ghosts captain needed just two wickets to reach the rare double milestone.
Burke reached the 10,000 run mark in the team’s last match just before Christmas.
Behind the stumps, Ollie Pope took three catches in another impressive performance from the England under 19 wicketkeeper-batsman.
In reply, the Ghosts reached the victory target of 205 in just 42.4 overs and losing four wickets in the process.
An opening stand of 54 between Aaron Yabsley (30) and Mitchell Carruthers (20) laid the platform for the Ghosts victory.
Number three bat Phil Wells contributed a solid 39 runs, but Ollie Pope with 64 runs off 78 balls was the shining light for the Ghosts
When Pope got out the Ghosts were 4 for 180 and still needed 25 runs to win.
Skipper Burke and Browne remained undefeated in steering the Ghosts home to victory.
In round 10, this Saturday the Ghosts will host sixth placed Parramatta at Raby Sports Complex in a two day match.
