Veteran Trevor Richards and fast bowler Ben Watts have played crucial roles for Diggers in their commanding win over Leagues under lights at Exies No 1 on Saturday afternoon.
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After Leagues won the toss and elected to bat, Logan Matheson and Matt Kennan made a strong start with a 42-run stand for the opening wicket.
When Kennan was cleaned up by Watts, who followed it up with the wicket Ben Jones (0)three balls later to see the Panthers sitting on 2/42 after nine overs.
Jimmy Binks and Matheson were able to put on 22 for the third wicket before Binks (11) became Watts’ third victim.
Another good stand for the Panthers saw the score to get to 86 before Matheson (42) fell to the bowling of Nicola Harbison (1/19).
Reece Matheson picked up where his brother left off putting on 42 with Daniel Bozic before Dom Brown (1/4) picked up Bozic (17).
While Paul Plummer and Matheson were able to get their side to 151 the introduction of Richards into the attack spelt trouble for the Panthers as he picked up the wickets of Plummer (6), Matheson (49) and Ryan Greenaway (7).
Babar Safdar (13*) and Brett Hazelman (19) added some late runs for their side before they declared on 9/191 off 43 overs.
While Leagues were able to make an early breakthrough with Hazelman picking up Brown (6) the second wicket proved harder to come by.
Michael Duncan and Richards made the most of their time together at the crease and were able to get their side into a potentially match-winning partnership.
The pair were able to get their side to 114 off 20.4 overs before Duncan was bowled by Safdar (1/31).
The wicket of Duncan proved of little concern for Diggers as captain Theo Valeri joined Richards at the crease and the pair continued to score runs quickly.
The pair were able to make the most of the conditions and made the run chasing look easy as both batsmen scored at almost a run-a-ball.
When Richards brought up his fifty, it was his third milestone in as many matches having scored 100 against Leeton in Creet Cup and a 110 against Hanwood in what has been a great run of form from the all-rounder.
The pair were able to secure the easy outright win with eight wickets still in hand with Richards finishing unbeaten on 84 while Valeri finished on 30.
The win now means the Diggers will not fall further than third place and have kept their unlikely push for a top-two finish but will need either Coro or Exies to drop points in the last two rounds as they are currently 13 points between second placed Coro and Diggers.
