Royals and Mt Barker on the board to begin their T20 campaigns

Royals and Mt Barker emerged with wins from the first two rounds of the Twenty20 competition, which is part of the Albany and Districts Cricket Association A-grade premiership season.

The Lions moved six points clear in second place after the efforts of young gun Ryley Valli guided them to a vital 17-run win over Manypeaks in their first T20 match at Turf South.

Valli’s lowest A-grade score this season is 32 and he made two half centuries in the double-header T20s on Saturday.

The teenager opened the batting with stand-in captain Jack Steel against Peaks and smashed 60 runs from 56 balls, including five fours, before he fell to veteran Wade Anning in the 19th over.

Valli and Steel added 69 runs for the first wicket after the Lions won the toss and batted and Valli’s maiden A-grade half century ensured they reached 2-134.

Two late sixes from Lorcan McNamara (14 not out) to go with 22 not out from Ted Batchelor helped the Lions set their opponents 135 to win at nearly seven runs an over.

Regan Poett (29), Aran Tilbury (13) and Seb Stanton (28) all got starts for Peaks but none were able to go on with the job.

Valli bowled Poett and did a great job with the ball, his four overs costing 16 runs.

George Sippe departed at 3-70 for Peaks but their middle order failed to fire, as they lost 7-47 to be all out for 117.

Six Lions bowlers snared a wicket and Peaks senior batsman Ryan Kinnear was run out for a diamond duck to add to their woes.

Marcus Mellon was the only multiple wicket taker with 2-14 while Angus Thompson returned 1-17 off his four overs.

Meanwhile Mt Barker’s winning form continued, crushing Collingwood Park by 84 runs in their only T20 fixture of the day.

Bulls skipper Jeremy Wood made a quick-fire 64 not out and Neil Ferreira was also busy with 42 from 29 balls as they lifted their side to 5-149 from 20 overs.

That total was far too many for a shaky Park line-up, who fell to 4-10 and then were all out for 65 in reply.

The Bulls had all the answers. Nathan Crudeli finished with 2-4 as he removed Ben Grey and Nathan Dovey while Jarrad Gardner chipped in with 3-17.