The Sydney Thunder and former Brisbane Heat allrounder was at his destructive best on Sunday at Norman Gray Oval, as his South Brisbane Magpies enjoyed a strong day out with two victories in their home KFC T20 Max doubleheader.
Souths made it three in a row last night, and even with Cuting having a rare failure with the bat, they were able to account for University of Queensland.
Cutting took 3-31 from his four overs to help restrict University to 7-149, with a pulsating Nick Larkin knock of 65 from 43 balls showing why the Melbourne Stars player was a sought after recruit for Uni.
While Cutting missed with the bat, a dynamic unbroken stand by opener Dylan Hunter (64no from 31 balls) and 47 not out from 26 balls by Stirling McAvoy netted the victory for Souths as they finished 3-155 from 16.3 overs.
In the morning game on Sunday for Souths, the home side sent Valley into bat with early wickets to Harmon Sandhu (2/21), younger brother of Queensland quick Gurinder, and Brandon Honeybrook (3/13) putting the Diehards on the backfoot at 5/37.
Whilst some much needed contributions from the Valley middle order helped the total to 6/126, it would require a strong bowling effort to defend.
With Cutting opening the batting, South Brisbane got off to a flyer in the powerplay with his innings of 45 off 18 balls including 4 x 4s and 4 x 6s.
Valley fought back after the Cutting dismissal, but an important innings from Gurinder Sandhu (25 off 24 balls) and a powerful cameo from former AFL star Claye Beams (13* off 8 balls) saw the Magpies home 6-down with 8 balls to spare.
The excellent home showing from South Brisbane would continue in the afternoon as they restricted the visiting Sandgate-Redcliffe Gators to 7/106, thanks to tight bowling from Harmon Sandhu (2/24) and legspinner James Rosewarne (3/10).
From here Ben Cutting went into another gear with his 89* off 30 balls raining boundaries all over Fehlberg Park, as he finished off the successful chase in 8.2 overs and included 6 x 4s and 9 x 6s.
Elsewhere in the KFC T20 Max on Sunday there were plenty of other brilliant individual performances, as well as some other in-form sides like Gold Coast and Western Suburbs walking away with a further two victories.
The Gold Coast Dolphins continue to remain undefeated with their disciplined bowling unit restricting Toombul to 9/111 on Sunday morning (Hugo Burdon 3/14 and Beau Webster 2/17).
Both then followed up with strong batting performances as Burdon anchored the chase with 44* off 61 balls and interstate signing Webster impressing with 46* off 35 balls.
The Dolphins would be faced with a much tougher task in the afternoon against Redlands, in what would be a low-scoring thriller.
Continuing their bowling form, the Dolphins managed to dismiss Redlands for 96 in the 18th over (Jackson Smith 4/29 and Iain Carlisle 3/5).
But on a tough wicket, the interstate recruits for Redlands Tigers responded with the ball (Spencer Johnson 3/9 and Ben Manenti 3/15) as they too applied pressure to push Gold Coast to a final over needing 12 runs.
Having already starred with the ball, up stepped Dolphins Jackson Smith (12* off 8 balls) to get the Gold Coast home on the final ball with two wickets in hand.
Out at Graceville Western Suburbs made the most of their home doubleheader to notch up another two wins over Sandgate-Redcliffe and Valley.
Having battled to 122 in their morning game (Sam Truloff 44), their spin-heavy attack of Dooley, Nair, Sabburg and Paulsen was too good for the Gators who could only manage 7/91 in reply.
In the afternoon, it was Truloff (60 off 43 balls) and evergreen Steve Paulsen (45 off 31 balls) again who anchored the Western Suburbs batting display to reach 5/170 against Valley.
With the ball, all ten Valley wickets would fall to spin as Chris Sabburg (4/13), Paddy Dooley (3/22) and Arjun Nair (2/13) helped dismiss the Diehards for 104 and cap off a strong weekend for Western Suburbs.
Up at Kerry Emery Oval, Northern Suburbs bounced back from Friday night’s loss to make it three wins on the trot as they accounted for last year’s grand finalists Sunshine Coast.
Coming off his Saturday five-for, NSW-based paceman Scott Rodgie was great with the ball again (3/21) alongside the offspin of Nathan McSweeney (3/14) keeping Scorchers to 8/100.
Then a bludgeoning Josh Brown powerplay (61 off 32 balls) got Northern Suburbs off to a flyer, who despite a little middle order wobble reach the win 5-down in the 12th over.
The Ipswich Vs Toombul afternoon fixture was also one to saviour for club legend Preston White, whose allround performance of 3/30 and 21* off 8 balls coupled with superb innings from Harry McNeilly (55 off 32 balls) and Jay Lenton (51* off 31 balls) helped the Bulls get a much needed win as they chased down 167 with 7 balls to spare.
The final game of the opening round in the KFC T20 Max tonight is:
Tuesday, August 23
6.30pm: Sandgate-Redcliffe v Sunshine Coast, Ian Healy Oval
For more information on fixtures, results and highlights of the KFC T20 Max Competition and QLD Premier Cricket, follow any of these platforms:
QLD Premier Cricket Match Centre