Exies Diggers take convincing victory over Leagues Panthers

Having won the toss and electing to bat, Diggers would have been hoping to make a strong start at the top of the order with Paresh Patil and Dean Bennett.

Those plans changed when Bennett (0) fell to the first legal ball of the innings from Ben Rowston (1/48) after he was trapped in front.

Leagues would have been hoping to build on that momentum; however, the early wicket did little to affect the confidence of the Diggers side.

Tom Valeri and Patil were able to get their side into a convincing position which saw Valeri post his fifty and had Diggers sitting on 1/103 when drinks were taken at the 20th over.

Leagues needed to take a wicket if they were to have any chance of stemming the flow of runs, and Liam Warren stepped up to knock over Valeri (71) and end the 116-run partnership.

Warren (2/59) backed it up with the wicket of Patil (32), but Diggers were still able to mount scoreboard pressure.

Theo Valeri (43) and Angus Boulton (17) were able to add 58 before Valeri (43) was caught off the bowling of Noah Gaske, while Boulton (17) was run out by Daniel Bozic.

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Shayan (28*) and Rocky Perre (13*) added some late runs as Diggers finished their 40 overs on 5/225.

If Leagues were to have a chance of chasing down the massive total set for them, there would need to be a strong start at the top of the order.

While Rowston and Michael Cudmore were able to see off the first couple of overs, Rowston (10) was eventually trapped in front by Valeri.

Noah Gaske (1) was the next to depart when he was caught at fine leg by Craig Lugton off the bowling of Valeri before Lugton trapped Reece Matheson (0) in front to see the Panthers sitting at 3/35 after eight overs.

Cudmore and Leagues captain Jimmy Binks tried to get their side out of trouble but were only able to add 16 runs before wickets started to tumble.

When Binks (10) fell to Lugton (3/24), it saw the Leagues side lose 4/5 and looking down the barrel of a heavy defeat. Bozic (40) and Hamish Gunn (15) added some late runs, but Ash Verhagen (2/34) and Valeri (3/22) cleaned up the tail to see Leagues bowled out for 122 and give Diggers a 103-run victory.

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