Opener Eamonn Vines led Geelong to a massive 157-run victory with an unbeaten century against Hawthorn-Kingston on Saturday.
The Hawks sent the Cats in with Hayden Butterworth (14) edging Harvinder Singh to slip with the score at 20 and Jade Christensen bowling Josh McDonald (6) to put the Cats in trouble at 2/30.
But Vines and Thomas Jackson fought back putting on 161 for the third wicket before the latter was caught on the onside for 85.
Geelong lost another two wickets but Vines remained at the crease for 115* off 135 balls, helping the Cats cruise to 5/259 with his 13th Premier Cricket century.
The ton was skipper’s first for the season despite several strong starts, and he is averaging 72.9 for the summer.
The Hawks started their run chase disastrously losing their first four wickets for just 24.
Paceman Josh Garner struck first snaring Romain Grenville on 6 while Matthew Vorbach was run out for 3.
Dom McGlinchey got one to bounce nastily at Shorye Chopra with the ball popping up off his bat for an easy catch, while Abhishek Jain fell in another run out following a mix up.
Butterworth picked up Nivin Sathyajith and Joel Lewis, while leg spinner Tom O’Connell took the next three.
Opener Thaveesh Attanayake finally fell to the returning Brodie Couch, caught behind on 51 after providing the only resistance with the bat for the Hawks, who managed just 102 all out.
Couch returns to the Cats after several weeks on the Melbourne Renegades’ squad, which failed to make the Big Bash League finals.
His inclusion provides a welcome boost to Geelong’s attack as the Cat’s take on third-placed Melbourne on Saturday.
Geelong took advantage of its favourable draw in January beating three bottom-eight sides despite losing to Footscray.
The Cats will jump up the ladder if they beat the Demons, last year’s premiers, with the teams from third to eighth equal on games (6-3) and separated only by net run rate.
But they will face much stiffer opposition from the Demons at Albert Ground than in their last three games.
South African leg spinner Kyle Williamson has been on fire with the ball, while opening batsman Blake Thomson is averaging 81.5 and coming off 95* in Melbourne’s 125-run thrashing of Footscray.
In a low-scoring round of the Geelong Cricket Association firsts Leopold’s Adam Bliss and Benjamin Horne and Grovedale’s Gareth Yelland were the pick of bowlers.
Bliss 4/13 and Horne 4/26 helped bowl Lara out for 103 and clinch Leopold a 24-run victory.
Yelland’s 4/8 helped Grovedale bowl out Newtown-Chilwell for 99 and pick up a four-wicket victory.
Highton and North Geelong also won with St Jospeh’s and South Barwon abandoning their game due to rain damage from the day before.
North Geelong leads the ladder followed by Lara, South Barwon and Newtown-Chilwell.
In the seconds Grovedale lost its first game of the season with Newtown-Chilwell chasing down 180 runs for a four-wicket victory with just five balls to spare.
Murgheboluc and North Geelong also won with the other two matches abandoned.
Grovedale still leads the ladder after round 12 followed by East Belmont, North Geelong and Murgheboluc.
In the thirds Leopold, North Geelong, Grovedale, South Barwon and Highton picked up victories.
North Geelong sits atop the ladder followed by South Barwon, St Joseph’s and Newtown-Chilwell.
