Craigieburn is proving the king of the close games in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division.
After a one run win in its round three game against St Albans, the Eagles were again on the edge of their seats on Saturday against Aberfeldie in a one-dayer.
In the end, the two sides couldn’t be split and had to share the points after a tie.
Eagles’ coach Sean Bathman said the group just continues to put themselves in positions to win games.
“It goes to show the boys fight to the last ball,” he said. “The last ball goes left or right of the fielder, it changes.
“We go away with three points, and we still see that as a win.”
Bathman said the first three games they had shown that they wouldn’t be an easy team to play against.
He said a run out in the first game changed things and swung the momentum against them.
They’ve followed it up with two matches that went down to the wire.
“We’ve still got heaps of improvement to come,” he said. “We’re still gelling and getting used to how everyone plays.
‘We’ve been led well by Sammy [Laffan] and the boys are starting to click. We’re only going to get better each week.”
On Saturday, Abers batted first and made 9-263 from its overs.
Darren Wotu took three wickets for the Eagles.
Bathman said you never want to be chasing that many in a one-dayer and it was a fairly high score for their ground.
He said they put a plan in place to try and chase them down.
“We had to take the game deep,” he said. “We always thought we could be a chance in the final over.
“One ball goes for a boundary and you get the win. It was good to be in a position to win.”
The Eagles needed 10 off the last over to get the win, but could only manage nine, finishing 7-263.
Laffan top scored with 65 while Adam Davies made 54.
The Eagles now face an even bigger challenge this week, taking on reigning premiers Deer Park, which is undefeated.
“It’s always good to come up against the best team in the competition,” he said. “It’ll be good to see where you are as a team.”
Meanwhile, Westmeadows was unable to get the job done against Yarraville Club.
The Clubbers made 5-252 before restricting the Warriors to 237.
