Despite a loss to the Coro Cougars on Saturday at West End Oval, Leagues have scraped into the one-day final where they will take on Exies on March 4.
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The sides were playing for a spot in the final with Coro needing to pick up a bonus point win to jump into second place on the one-day ladder.
Tim and Rob Rand got the Cougars got off to a good start with a 20-run partnership before Tim (5) was caught by Raj Singh off the bowling of Brett Hazelman (1/50).
Rob Rand and Dean Bennett kept their side moving towards a decent total with a 30-run second wicket stand before Leagues captain Paul Plummer dismissed Rand (19).
Coro maintained their ability to rebuild after the fall of wicket with Bennett and Haydn Pascoe containing to build towards a big total.
When Bennett (29) fell to Singh (1/20), William Kennedy joined Pasoce, and the pair were able to put together an 86-run stand for the fourth wicket to see the Cougars reach 170 before Kennedy (31) and William Dalton (0) fell in quick succession.
Thanks to 88* from Pascoe, the Cougars finished their 40 overs on 5/185. For Leagues to maintain their second place position, they needed to score at least 148 which would deny Coro a bonus point win.
Liam Greenaway and Ben Leach made a good start for the Panthers with a 30-run stand before Greenaway (16) fell to the bowling of Alex Flood (1/37). Leach (18) and Matt Kennan (8) were able to get their side to 50 before both fell in quick succession before Jimmy Binks (5) and Ryan Greenaway (6) to see Leagues fall to 5/65.
Plummer and Babar Safdar were able to stabilise their innings before Safdar (12) was run out by Lucas Conlan, but Satvir Chahal was able to pick up were Safdar left off.
After a 31-run seventh wicket partnership between Plummer and Chahal, the Panthers still needed 20-runs to deny Coro the bonus point when Chahal fell to the bowling of Rand (2/18).
Thanks to Plummer’s (36) crucial runs, Leagues finished their 40 overs on 9/149 to see Hazelman (3*) hit the run needed to deny Coro the bonus point with the second last ball of the match.