Coro Cougars has secured a place in the two-day decider after securing a massive win over Leagues Club Panthers by 153 runs.
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It was an excellent batting performance from Coro captain Haydn Pascoe and Jono Morris which got their side to a competitive total while Shane Hutchinson made the impact with the ball.
The game didn’t start well for the Cougars losing two quick wickets in the form of Rob Rand (3) and Dean Bennett (8).
The slide was halted by Pascoe and Tim Rand who combined to put on 63 for the third wicket.
Pascoe knew he needed to put his head down and get through the tough period.
“The pitch was doing a bit early, but it flattened out as the day went on like we thought it was,” he said.
The wicket of Rand (29) who was run out by Reece Matheson.
The wicket did little to halt the momentum as Pascoe and Tom Valeri (13) put on another 60 runs before Valeri fell to Harry Singh (4/49).
This proved nothing more than a slight bump for Coro as they continued on their way.
Pascoe was eventually dismissed after yet another 60 run partnership this time with Morris (41).
Coro managed to reach their goal of batting out the day which was pleasing for Pascoe.
“The plan was to bat for as long as we could,” he said.
“It was good to see blokes like Jono able to perform well.”
Some lower order hitting from Shane Makea (31) saw Coro close out their innings on 284 off 99.5 overs early on day two.
Ben Leach (8) and Logan Matheson started the response well for Leagues however two quick wickets of Leach and Andrew Madden (0) to Alex Flood (2/30) looked to change the game.
Matheson (36) and Jimmy Binks (40) continued to move the Panthers in the right direction with an 83-run partnership.
With the score on 98, the game turned again in favour Coro.
Hutchinson came into the attack and from there Coro didn’t let up. Matheson and Binks fell in successive deliveries and were quickly followed by Liam (2) and Ryan Greenaway (0).
Leagues lost 4/9 and then 4/12 to have the side struggling at 9/119.
Satvir Chahal (11) and Matthew Best (3) made a turnaround, however, Hutchinson was too good for Leagues finishing the game with a 5-wicket haul.
Pascoe was full of praise for Hutchinson.
“He is a very good bowler,” he said.
“He is just super consistent. It was a piece of individual brilliance that saw him run out Binks.”