The 18-year-old first change bowler snared his first five/for playing for United in the game against Old Bar at Chatham Park. He grabbed his second on Sunday for Manning in the final of the Mid North Coast inter-district under 19 competition played at Oxley Oval, Port Macquarie.

Gilfillan took 5/22 as Hastings crashed to be all out for 71, paving the way for a Manning victory.

Gilfillan is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order at Iguana.

He’s in his second summer of first grade with United. While he’s gone close on occasions in the past – including four wickets in season’s grand final against Taree West, he hadn’t broken through for a five wicket haul until Saturday in first grade.

He was called into bowl with Old Bar one wicket down. Gilfillan left nothing to chance, taking the next five wickets as Old Bar crashed to be all out for 93.

Gilfillan came into the attack the following day with the Manning bowlers on top. He rates this performance the better of the two, adding conditions were just about perfect for bowling.

“That’s about the best they've come out,’’ he said.

Gilfillan tore through the lower order to complement the work of the opening bowlers.

This was a form reversal for Manning after they were embarrassed by Hastings the previous match.

“We were probably a bit cocky,’’ he said.

“We dropped something like 20 catches in that game.’’

However, Gilfillan produced a credible effort with the bat in that encounter, top scoring with 40. Manning was in dire trouble when he joined Sam Whitbread. They put on 70 for the 10^th wicket that almost saved the game for Manning.

Gilfillan admits he’s under-performed with the bat in the last couple of seasons, although he hasn’t had that many opportunities to impress with United. His goal now is to post a couple of decent scores for United and so earn an elevation in the batting order.

He started playing cricket with Hallidays Point in the under 10s. From there he was with Great Lakes for the majority of time in junior cricket, switching to United soon after coming into seniors.

United have won the past two Manning first grade premierships and are on line to post a third consecutive minor premiership this season Gilfillan is confident the side can make it a hat-trick of titles, believing Wingham will be their grand final opponents in March.

Out of cricket season Gilfillan plays short stop with Bago in the Hastings baseball competition.