Lane Cove was chasing down the Eagles 204, on day two, in extremely hot 35 degree plus temperature.
With the Eagles bowlers having to work hard on a good batting wicket and quick outfield, the prevailing conditions started to take its toll on the bowlers and fielders. Given the hot conditions, the bulk of the bowling was undertaken by the spinners, Yasir Ali and Gihan Ebert, with strong support from seam bowler, Mark Bursa.
In a late change of tactics, with Lane Cove only four wickets down and looking well settled, the Eagles switched from predominately using spin bowlers, to reverting to pace, with opening bowlers, Blake Pearson and Zain Khan brought back on to try and get a much-needed breakthrough.
This resulted in immediate success with Khan taking two wickets in two balls to put immediate pressure back on the Lane Cove batters. However, the success was short lived with Lance Cove managing to secure the required runs to claim victory without losing another wicket.
Lower Grade Scores: Second Grade – Auburn 107 (R Randhawa 27, A Totade 26) and 1/61 (R Randhawa 21, I Tariq 29 no) lost to Lane Cove 5/205 dec (A Singh 4/28); Third Grade – Auburn 5/212 (S Brudges 87, H Quinn 73, R Hakim 20, A Diwan 20 no) d Lane Cove 211 (S Bridges 7/41); Fourth Grade – Auburn 149 (T Singh 55, H Arora 20) and 1/25 d Lane Cove 43 and 131; Fifth Grade – bye.
