Diggers have defeated Leagues Panthers after needing to hit five runs off the final six balls during their day-night match at Exies No 1.
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After winning the toss and electing to bat Leagues made a good start to their innings with Logan Matheson (34) and Ben Leach (18) pushing towards the 50 mark.
Matheson fell to the bowling of Diggers’ captain Theo Valeri (6/22) before Reece Matherson, and Leach followed shortly after with Valeri ripping through the top order to have Leagues at 3/60.
Jimmy Binks (74) and Andrew Madden (22) steadied the innings with a 50-run partnership to have their side at 3/109.
Madden was dismissed by Dom Brown (1/36) before Liam Greenaway came out to carry on from where Madden left off playing a supporting role for Binks who was starting to hit the ground running.
Liam Greenaway was bowled by Ben Watts (1/40) after a 34-run partnership before Matt Kennan (7) along with Binks got the side to 170 before Keenan became Valeri’s fourth victim.
Quick wickets fell from them with League losing 5/12 with Nicola Harbison (2/13) picking up two wickets while Valeri took the final two wickets of the innings to finish with six wickets for the innings.
Valeri credited his side’s ability to restrict Leagues to under 200.
“They created a few partnerships when they were batting, and we stuck together and did a really good job in the end,” he said.
“We were hoping to keep them to about 200 at one stage, and then 180 was a bonus.”
Diggers’ lost an early wicket with Dom Brown caught behind off the bowling of Ryan Greenaway (2/30) but Watts and Valeri able to guide the side into a comfortable position.
The pair batted together for 20 overs and got the side into a good position with a 113-run partnership.
After reaching the half-century mark, Watts fell for 58 after he was caught by Ben Leach off the bowling off Paul Plummer (1/30) before Theo and Tom Valeri came together to continue to build on the foundation provided.
After a 29-run partnership, Theo was caught behind off the bowling of Raj Singh for 59 with the score on 3/154.
The fall of Richard Watts triggered a slight wobble from the Diggers side as they lost 3/11 with Liam Greenaway (2/29) while Ryan Greenaway dismissed Luke Peruzzi (4).
Some tight bowling from Liam and Ryan Greenaway saw Diggers scoring rate slowing down to lead to a nail-biting finish.
With Singh selected to bowl the last over Tom Valeri was able to get a single off the first ball before Jack Favell secured the win with a four off the second.