The Eagles travelled away to Airey Park, Strathfield, to take on Strathfield in a 50 over a side match, their first game after the Christmas break.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Auburn Eagles set out to post a big total on a flat and fast Airey Park wicket, in hot, steamy conditions.
But they got off to a terrible start when opening batter and Captain Asad Usman was run out for one run.
Alex Daniels and Amanjyot Singh then set about rectifying the poor start to build a partnership, before Singh was out for 36.
It was then up to Daniels and all-rounder Sajjad Qaiser keep the scoreboard ticking over. Daniels and Qaiser dominated the Strathfield bowlers with attacking aggressive stroke play, with Daniels posting 70 runs off 71 balls, with 5 fours and 4 sixes,
Qaiser scored 82 runs off 67 balls with 5 fours and 6 sixes.
Contributions from Blake Pearson, 33 runs, and Peter Andonopoulos with 20 runs, saw the Eagles post a respectable total of 268 runs.
Strathfield came out strong and consistent boundaries meant the scoreboard was ticking over quickly.
Jamal Khan, making his first grade debut for the Eagles, took the first wicket with the score on 22. It would also be the first and last wicket an Eagles bowler would take for the afternoon, with the remaining Strathfield wickets all run outs.
Strathfield made the most of some inconsistent Eagles bowling and poor fielding to take the score to 3/244, and apart from some tight bowling from Mark Bursa and Asad Usman, the runs kept flowing.
Strathfield appeared to have the match well in hand, with veteran Cosikan Beadle posting 142 off 129 deliveries.
With Strathfield needing a run a ball from the final five overs, Blake Pearson conceded only one run in the 48th over, swinging the pendulum back into the Eagles favour.
With 10 runs to win off the last over, which came down to 4 runs required off the last ball of the over for Strathfield to win, Pearson held his nerve and a run out off the final ball allowed the Eagles to secure a much needed victory by one run.
Eagles fly home in nail-biting win
AUBURN has beaten the defending Sydney Shires’ first grade premiers Strathfield in a see-sawing match that came down to the last ball.
