Eagles lose altitude on way to final spot

After losing the toss in the two-day match at Auburn’s George Parry Oval, and sent in to bat on a good batting wicket, the Eagles produced their worst batting effort of the season – the seventh lowest team score for Auburn in First Grade, since the club was established in 1951 – to be all out for a total of 67 runs.
Top scorer for the Eagles was opener Amanjyot Singh who was in good touch before he was run out for 17 runs. This set the pattern for wickets to fall at regular intervals, against some good line and length bowling from the Lindfield bowlers.
Only two other players managed to reach double figures, with Peter Andonopoulos and Shan Rana both making 10 runs.
With only a small total of 67 runs to defend, the Eagles needed to strike early.
Opening bowler, Blake Pearson took the first Lindfield wicket with the score on 1-22, however, the Lindfield batters dug in and the next wicket did not fall until the score was 138 runs.
The Eagles bowlers toiled hard but Lindfield wickets were hard to come by, until pace bowler Sajjad Qaiser was reintroduced into the attack. His persistence eventually paid off when he picked up three quick wickets, followed by a wicket to part-time leg spinner, Captain Asad Usman.
This left Lindfield on a score of 5-198 at the end of the day’s play.
The Eagles First Grade team will have to put in a huge effort next Saturday if it is to salvage points from the match and keep its slim hopes of a Finals berth alive against it last round opponent Roseville.
Lower Grade scores: Second Grade – Auburn 160 (T Barton 31, A Diwan 31, Z Jadoon 21, J Khan 21) v Lindfield 1-12; Third Grade – Auburn 872, 4-8 v Lindfield 96; Fourth Grade – Auburn 7-140 v Lindfield (rain delay); Fifth Grade – Auburn 7-222 (S Guru 67, K Ashkar 59, R Ebert 46, R Singh 26) v Lane Cove 64 (S Ali 5-12, T Kohli 2-5); Metropolitan Cup – Auburn 4-40 v Georges River 200 (A Sulaiman 4-55, S Ranaweera 2-31); Chappelow Cup – Auburn Eagles 67 lost to Strathfield White 124, Auburn Gold 8-131 lost to Strathfield Black 5-132.