Diggers have made an immediate impact in the longer format of the GDCA first grade competition securing an outright win over Exies Eagles under lights on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Diggers side lost an early wicket with Dean Crack (0) being trapped in front by Exies captain Andrew Arnold meaning Luke and Matt Peruzzi would have to try and rebuild their side's innings.
Matt Peruzzi (14) added some runs quickly before he was the second of Arnold's victims after he found a way past his defence to knock over his stumps.
Luke Peruzzi was able to find a more long term partner when Matt Crack joined the opener out in the middle. Their partnership saw the side past the fifty mark before the 49-run stand was broken as Aditha Jayasuriya knocked over Peruzzi (31).
Crack continued to put runs on the board but finding someone to hang around with him proved to be the issue. Tom Spry (2/30) picked up two quick wickets before Ben Fattore joined Crack and the pair were able to get their side past the 100-mark.
After a 20-run stand Crack (45) was caught and bowled by Connor Bock (1/34) while Kym Wheeler (0) fell three balls later to the bowling of Daniel Duckworth (1/5).
Fattore (15) and Dean Villata (21*) added some late runs while Jayasuriya (3/20) and Arnold (3/30) picked up the final wicket to see Diggers finish their innings on 146 after 44.2 overs.
This meant that in order for Exies to pick up a winning draw they would need to bat out their overs scoring at 3.31 runs per over.
It was a strong start to their innings for Exies with Phil and Craig Burge putting on 30 runs for the first wicket, but trouble struck seventh over.
Luke Peruzzi picked up the wickets of Craig Burge (19) and Dan Brady (5) while Matt Peruzzi knocked over Phil Burge (7).
Diggers were able to keep the pressure on the Exies batsmen as they continued to take wickets at regular intervals which didn't allow the Eagles to make serious inroads into the target.
While Aditha Jayasuriya (15) and Tom Spry (14) were able to make starts, it was the bowling of Ben Fattore (4/14) which proved difficult to deal with as he picked up four wickets over the course of a five-over spell.
Arnold tried to play a skipper's knock late in the innings, but he ran out of partners with Bock (0) caught by Daniel Dossetor off the bowling Dean Villata (1/27) while Ryan Bock became Luke Peruzzi's (3/29) third victim of the day.
After a nine-run stand with Duckworth (0*), Arnold (27) was the final wicket to fall after he was caught by Wheeler off the bowling of Matt Peruzzi (2/22) to see Exies bowled out for 112 which handed Diggers a 34-run victory.
With the 12 points gained from the outright win, Diggers move 10 points clear at the top of the table ahead of Coro, but their lead will be shortened as they have the bye next weekend while Exies will take on the Cougars.
RELATED
***
While you're with us, did you know that you can now receive updates straight to your inbox every Monday at 6am from The Area News? To make sure you're up to date with all the Griffith and MIA news you can sign up here.