Eagles look good for win after boost from skipper

The Eagles went into the match with newfound confidence and self-belief, after the team’s excellent winning performance in the second round.
With Balmain-South Sydney batting first, the Eagles got off to a great start with an early wicket, however, some sloppy fielding and several missed catches, proved costly.
Balmain-South Sydney recovering from the loss of the early wicket to be 1/140 at tea. The break allowed the Eagles to re-evaluate its performance and to come out after with a far more determined attitude.
Due to some excellent tight bowling from experienced seamer bowler, Mark Bursa (4/38 off 19 overs) and former Sri Lankan First Class off spin bowling allrounder, Gihan Ebert (4/60 off 24 overs) the pressure was back on Balmain-South Sydney and wickets stared to fall.
Balmain-South Sydney were eventually dismissed for a total of 215 runs, leaving the Eagles with seven overs left to bat to stumps to end the day’s play.
Eagles Captain Asad Usman opened the batting with last match centurion Amanyjot Singh and in this situation, most opening batsmen are happy to just bat out the seven overs and survive for next week.
However, Captain Usman is not one to miss an opportunity and with a positive mindset, set about getting the Eagles innings off to a flying start by smashing the opposition bowlers to all parts of Jubilee Oval.
At the end of the day’s play, the Eagles were 1/49, with Usman being the dismissed batsman but not before he hit a swashbuckling 44 runs off just 21 balls, which included 5 fours and 3 sixes. The Eagles need just another 168 runs on day two to win the match.
Lower Grade Scores:
Second Grade: Auburn 206 (I Tariq 48, D Gulia 34) v Balmain-South Sydney 8-139 (A Diwan 4.36);
Third Grade: Auburn 0-86 (N Ross 48 no, J Khan 37 no) v Balmain-South Sydney 183 (S Rana 3-47, A Sulaiman 2-32, Z Mirza 2-26);
Fourth Grade: Auburn 254 (S Gitte 47, K Singh 38, T Barton 36, S Ullah 34, H Siddiqui 24) v Balmain-South Sydney 4-38 (J Romero 2-8); and
Fifth Grade: Auburn 3-145 def Georges River 143.