Drama as Canberra keep top spot in ABL

A mid-match brawl has marred the Canberra Cavalry's return to form against the Brisbane Bandits on Sunday afternoon.

Three players were ejected from the field in Canberra's 5-0 win, after the benches were cleared following a pitch from the Cavalry's Josh Warner hit Bandits' batter David Harris in the head.

Warner and Harris were both removed from the game as well as Canberra's Andrew Campbell, while Bandits manager Dave Nilsson was also given his marching orders.

The win helped Canberra square the series at 2-apiece, and it was enough to ensure they kept sole possession of first place after nine rounds ahead of Brisbane.

Brisbane are now 20-16, one match behind Canberra who sit on 21-15.

Perth's only series loss came at the hands of the Sydney Blue Sox last week, who were far too good for the Melbourne Aces this weekend, winning the four-match series 3-1.

Melbourne recorded their only of the series on Saturday night, when they overcame the Blue Sox 7-3 courtesy of pitcher Mitch Larkins, who allowed just one earned run in seven innings.

The Aces looked likely to continue that form into Sunday's series finale, when they opened the scoring with two runs in their third innings.

Sydney scored four in their fourth innings though, and barely let Melbourne back in the match to retain third spot in the standings.

Meanwhile the Adelaide Bite extended their lead over Perth in fourth spot after taking out the series between the two teams 3-1.

The Bite left it to the last innings to score the only run of the match in the series-deciding fourth match, winning 1-0.

It was a stark contrast to their two victories on Saturday, which were recorded 11-3 and 8-7 over their struggling opponents.

Perth won Friday's series opener 7-2, but slump to 16-20, while Adelaide now have a positive winning record of 18-17, but still a win behind Sydney who have a top-three playoff place.