A five-wicket haul from Jamie Winkler swung the game into Exies' favour as it looked like the Cougars were in the box seat to take their second win of the season at West End Oval on Saturday.
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Exies won the toss and elected to bat but weren't able to get off to the best start with Craig Burge (2) falling to Alex Flood third over but they were able to find their footing with Phil Burge and Jamie Winkler able to get their side moving in the right direction.
The pair were able to put on 30 before Flood (2/18) removed Winkler while Jake Rand (2/21) picked up the wickets of Burge (34) and Travers Pickmere (2).
Tom Spry continued his good form from round one, but finding someone to stick with him proved to be the issue. Spry put on 30 with Hayden Forner (9) before the talented keeper-batsmen became the first of Jack Hutchinson's wickets.
Hutchinson (5/34) would be the thorn in the side of the Exies line-up as he picked up a five-wicket haul including the prized wicket of Spry (38) to see Exies bowled out for 154 in the 39th over.
The Cougars got off to a similar start as the Eagles with Rob Rand (4) falling to the bowling of Marc Tucker in the fourth over while brother Tim (6) was caught by Andy Arnold off the bowling of Tucker (2/27) to see the Coro side sitting on 2/26 after 12 overs.
Coro was able to gain some momentum through Dean Bennett and Haydn Pascoe who were able to get their side into a stronger position. Over the next seven overs, the third-wicket pairing was able to put on 45 runs before the introduction of Winkler into the attack started to cause the Cougars problems.
Winkler picked up the wicket of Pascoe (23) with his third delivery while Bennett (34) and Damien Walker (0) were dismissed in the following over while Connor Bock was able to find a gap in the defence of Ben Signor to see Coro fall to 6/80.
The Cougars still had time on their side as they required 74 runs from the remaining 108 deliveries but were able to get out of the stumble. Bock (3/19) and Winkler (5/13) never gave Coro a chance to settle as Exies came away with a 54-run win.
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