The top four of the Millicent and District Cricket Association is starting to take shape after the first three rounds of the new competition.

Mount Burr, Beachport/Furner, Townies and Rendelsham have established themselves as the frontrunners all with two wins from three games to jump clear from the pack.

Rendelsham snuck into a finals spot after a hard-fought battle against Millicent at McLaughlin Park.

An early burst with the new ball put the home side on the back foot early at 2/9 before Jaxon Cushion joined captain Mitchell Nitschke to offer some resistance.

Cushion was the aggressor with 22 as the pair appeared to get their team out of trouble, but another collapse left the hosts reeling again.

Millicent was in trouble at 8/79 and the only reason it exceeded triple figures was the valiant Ashton Lindner.

Lindner threw caution to the wind smashing an unbeaten 36 against the run of play to give Millicent’s total of 125 some respectability.

Rendelsham’s Jacob Carger did the damage with the ball picking up 4/18 from his eight overs, five of which were maidens.

After both of Rendelsham’s openers fell cheaply, the side was crying out for a batter to stand up in the run chase and that man was captain Jake Wight.

The skipper played a commanding performance as the backbone of the innings.

Despite Michael Gibson bringing the contest to life with a couple of quick wickets, Rendelsham was always going to get home with Wight at the crease.

His unbeaten 72 ensured his team won by six wickets, while Ethan Bowman’s 29 was a nice helping hand.

Beachport/Furner ensured it sits on the slipstream of ladder-leader Mount Burr after a strong win over Millicent Footballers.

Millicent Footballers batted first and battled to 8/123 from its 40 overs.

The target was not enough to challenge Jase Bateman’s Beachport/Furner, which cruised home with five wickets in the shed.

The most comprehensive performance of the round went to Townies which outclassed Robe in all facets of the game.

Despite the early loss of captain Matt Smith, the Townies top order went to work with Harry Schroder and Bredon Smart getting starts.

But the biggest impact was made by the dashing Brodie Foster, who smashed 82 from just 49 balls.

His knock transformed the innings and pushed Townies to the imposing score of 4/230.

Needing to score 5.75 runs an over to chase down the big target, Robe was never in the contest.

Joshua Bull got the shiny Kookaburra singing in his four-wicket spell, while five other bowlers made regular inroads through the innings to ensure Robe could not produce any momentum.

Robe scraped its way to 9/96 from its 40 overs to lose convincingly by 134 runs.

Mount Burr continued its rollicking form with a solid win over Lucindale at the home of the Mozzies.

The early loss off Jaco Naude did little to impact Mount Burr’s innings as Jack Francis and Nathan Muhovics progressed the score from 1/1 to 1/90.

Muhovics was the more proactive at the crease and his half century proved to be the difference between the two teams.

Jack Muhovics was the only other player to make a decent contribution to Mount Burr’s 8/155.

Consistent breakthroughs continuously held Lucindale’s run chase back from success.

Dnaiel McCarthy showed plenty of promise with the stick from number three scoring 36, but few others could offer significant support.

Seven different bowlers claimed victims as Lucindale slumped to 118, 37 runs short of the target.

Kallan Bevan was the only Mount Burr bowler to claim multiple wickets.

The action continues in the fourth round this Saturday where Rendelsham and Beachport/Furner headline the fixture.