The local boys were rolled for a miserly 71, but had Manning 4-30 in reply and looked to be an outside chance of victory.

But a couple of catches and a few overs later the visitors cruised to the target of 72 without losing another wicket.

Hastings coach Martin Garoni said it was a good toss to win after the hosts were sent in on an Oxley Oval pitch that sweated under the covers overnight.

“Manning bowled really well in conditions that probably suited the bowlers and held all their catches,” he said.

“That’s the game really.”

Garoni was slightly disappointed the top order weren’t a “bit more circumspect”.

“I had instructions to the boys to bat out our 50 overs and we only got to 35,” he said. “They had a good bowling attack, but I felt if we could have gotten another 30 or 40, a score of around 100 would have been difficult to chase.”

Liam Coelho and Kyle Blanch were two of the better performers for the Hastings side.

“Liam only made 12, but he hung around for a long time and Kyle took two wickets and had a few dropped catches off his bowling,” Garoni said.

“In saying that, I was really proud of the way the boys stood up and made themselves available to play some more cricket on a Sunday.

“Ambrose Humphreys and Daniel Pretty were really good for us this season.”