The Exies Eagles have picked up the victory they required to ensure they stayed in the top four after a five-wicket win over Leagues Panthers on Saturday afternoon.
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The Leagues side won the toss in what was a must-win game for the team, and with Matt Keenan and Ryan Greenaway at the crease, the side looked to make a strong start.
It was a 42-run stand between Greenaway and Keenan before the wicket of Keenan (17), who was run out by Ryan Bock, triggered the loss of three quick wickets.
Greenaway (21) followed closely behind when Connor Bock bowled him before Reece Matheson (3) made his way back to the pavilion when he was bowled by Marc Tucker (1/13).
With the score on 3/52, Conor Edenden (26) and Andrew Madden looked to rebuild their side's innings and were able to put on 65 runs before Madden (43) was dismissed by Andy Arnold just short of his fifty.
Wickets started to tumble again with Connor Bock (3/13) and Tom Spry (2/16) doing the damage as the Panthers reached the end of their 40 overs on 9/144.
In reply, the Eagles were able to make a strong start at the top of the order with Jamie Winkler and Aditha Jayasuriya at the top of the order.
An opening stand of 76 had the Exies side in a strong position when Madden caught Winkler (32) off the bowling of Edenden.
Phil Burge and Jayasuriya got their side over the hundred mark before Burge became the second to fall to the bowling of Edenden.
Exies were able to maintain their momentum with Spry joining Jayasuriya in the middle and after getting their side to within 20 runs of victory Edenden (3/37) took his third of the match with Spry caught behind by Ryan Minato.
Jayasuriya (50) was run out just after reaching his half-century, and Marc Tucker (9) was caught off a full toss from Keenan (1/4), but it made little difference with Bock (7*) hitting the winning runs to give his side a five-wicket win with 6.4 overs remaining. The result means Exies now hold an eight-point lead over Leagues in the fight for fourth.
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