The Eagles won the toss and elected to bat, however they were put on the back foot early as Ash Verhagen picked up the early wickets of Craig Burge (5) and Aditha Jayasuriya (8).

The middle-order also struggled to make an impression as Verhagen (3/21) picked up his third of the day with the dismissal of Harsh Patel (1).

Phil Burge tried to give his side a platform to build on but finding a partner was proving to be a difficult task.

Kyle Bennett (2/16) came on as the first change and kept up the good work of the Diggers opening bowlers picking up the wickets of Connor Bock (7) and Zac Dart (8), while Ben Fattore (1/10) picked up the wicket of Sam Breed (7) to see the Eagles struggling at 6/68 after 21 overs.

Mason Ashcroft joined Burge out in the middle and was able to put together a partnership and push towards a defendable total as they put on 48 runs, and Burge was able to post fifty before Diggers new recruit Reece Maguire introduced himself in style.

Starting with the wicket of Ashcroft (13), Maguire (4/15) would go on to pick up the wickets of Burge (63), Sanil Chilikuri (0) and Arjun Kamboj (0), with Duane Ashcroft (11*) finishing unbeaten as the Eagles were bowled out for 132.

Diggers were able to make a strong start in reply, with Dean Bennett and Paresh Patil at the top of the order putting on 69 inside 15 overs before Bennett (32) fell to the bowling of Chilikuri (1/18).

RELATED

It started a bit of a wobble for the Diggers side as the middle order struggled to find their feet.

Patel picked up the wickets of Tom (5) and Theo Valeri (0), as well as Angus Boulton (3) and Josh Lanham (9).

Patil watched the carnage go on around him and while he was able to get his side back on track with Ben Fattore got their side to within three runs of victory before Fattore (13) became Patel's (5/16) fifth victim while Aditha Jayasuriya brought Patil's (56) innings to a close.

Kyle Bennett (1*) and Maguire (2*) were able to guide their side over the line with 5.1 overs remaining and three wickets in hand.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: