Edinburgh Castle Rockers kept their winning streak intact with a 174-162 victory over Dublin Guardians in the European T20 Premier League on Thursday. The away side moved clear at the top of the table, extending their lead to nine points after five consecutive wins. Dublin remain fifth with just two points from six matches and now five defeats.
And here's the thing about these high-scoring encounters — Edinburgh have been finding ways to put runs on the board consistently. They beat Glasgow Cosmos 163-159 on Sunday, then dispatched Rotterdam Dockers 148-93 before that. Dublin's recent results tell a different story: narrow defeats to Belfast Wolves and Amsterdam Flames, plus a thriller against Rotterdam that went 178-179.
To be fair, Edinburgh had Dublin on the back foot earlier. Two weeks ago they won 110-109 in a tight contest, and this time they played the second half a man up in terms of momentum. Dublin started brighter but found no answer when Edinburgh accelerated. Things came to a head in the middle overs, where Edinburgh built an unassailable cushion.
The table goes out of the window in these games, but the gap is real enough. Edinburgh sit top with 11 points from five matches, unbeaten in five. Dublin's form has been uneven — they lost to Edinburgh last time out and have now fallen further behind. By then, the result had already decided itself.