Round eight of the Pacific International Hospital Corporate Indoor Cricket competition lit up the New Year with some entertaining encounters in the Men's and Mixed divisions over the weekend.
Reigning Men's division premiers, Puma Energy suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of a fired up Bank South Pacific (BSP).
Things didn't go as planned for the defending champions as BSP kept the pressure on with some tight bowling and fielding.
Puma Energy could only manage 66 and were quietly confident of defending their score.
Puma exerted some pressure early on to put BSP under pressure but, some cool BSP heads remained to ensure victory for BSP to post 111.
Despite the victory to BSP, Puma Energy still maintains top spot by a thread.
In the other Avala matches, Digicel claimed third spot with victory over PNG Power while Westpac recorded an upset victory over fifth place National Teachers Insurance Ltd (NTIL).
Over in the Lahara pool saw Tent Manufacturers maintain their second spot with a hard fought 30 run victory over IRC.
Rigo Office also kept up with the pace to secure a 62 run win over SCAL while ANZ Bank kept their finals hopes alive with an 8 run victory over PAG Roosters.
Moni Plus recorded a mammoth 15 point haul with a massive victory over BAT to move up to 6th place.
The Mixed Division was no different as defending champions AVIS Rent A Car (125) showcased their favourites tag to hold off second placed BSP (90) to maintain top spot in the Avurigo Pool.
Places in the top four aren't finalised with tow more nail-biting rounds are yet to be played.
The Laurabada pool served up some high scoring and nail biting matches, with Oil Search (174) chasing down BMobile Vodafone's 162 to maintain their second spot.
NTIL (174) also managed to chase down IRC's 162 to keep their finals hopes alive while league leaders, PAG Roosters easily accounted for SCAL by 82 runs.
PNG Ports amassed a mammoth 17 points for the round after restricting IBS to -45 and then going on to post 186.
The current points ladder after 8 rounds is attached below:
