Coro Cougars have opened their account for the 2018/19 first grade season after a convincing win over Leagues at West End Oval on Saturday afternoon.
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The Leagues side, who were without captain Paul Plummer, Ryan Greenaway and Andrew Madden, made a good start to the day in winning the toss but that would prove to be the only success for the side.
Stand-in skipper Logan Matheson and Matt Kennan walked to the crease looking to build a platform for their side. However, the Cougars bowling made it tough for the Leagues side.
Lucas Conlan (1/15) struck to remove Matheson (13) with the score on 15 before the trouble really set in when Damien Walker took the wickets of Conor Edenden (1) and Jimmy Binks (3).
Mitchell Williams-Hedges (2/18) then took the wickets of Reece Matheson (1) and Matt Keenan (13) to see the Panthers fall from 2/24 to 5/34 in the space of six overs.
Satvir Chahal and Babar Safdar were the men to try and lead their side out of the precarious position and were able to get their side to 51 before Chahal (13) fall to the bowling of Shane Hutchinson which saw Leagues in trouble once again.
Jamie Bennett took the wicket of Safdar (8) while Hutchinson (3/8) took the wickets of Brett Hazelman (5) and Raj Singh (1) before Bennett (2/3) struck again to see Leagues bowled out for 62 in 30.2 overs and facing a tough task if they wanted to pick up the victory.
It would be crucial for the Panthers that they pick up early wickets however the Cougars had time on their side in the chase of a small total.
Chahal (1/13) gave his side a chance taking the wicket of Mitchell Williams-Hedges (7), but Hutchinson and Rand made sure the wicket posed little issue for the Cougars.
The pair put on 21 for the second wicket before a full ball from Hazelman (1/11) saw Rand (18) trapped in front, but the wickets weren’t falling as regularly as required.
Hutchinson and Dean Bennett (19*) were able to guide their side to within six runs of victory before Hutchinson (13) was caught off the bowling of Binks (1/11) but Kyle Bennett (1*) joined his brother to guide Coro to a seven-wicket win.