Having been right in the hunt for the win against last season’s third-placed side Romsey the previous weekend, the Eagles travelled to Greenhill Reserve in Walla to take on the Magpies on Saturday afternoon, putting together another brilliant performance to claim victory by 30 runs.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Billy Cox returned for his first match of the season to open alongside skipper Seamus Feery, and the pair immediately went to work, seeing off the new ball in a solid 12-over opening dig.
Looking comfortable at the crease, the pair raced beyond 50 without loss to set the innings up, before Feery (24) was eventually removed to leave the Eagles one down with 56 runs on the board.
That brought Ben Bryant to the crease, and while the pair looked to continue the momentum, set batsman Cox was soon trudging back to the sheds for 40, leaving Eastern Hill at 2-79, and while the next three-and-a-half overs saw some heavy scoring, Bryant too would perish for 29, leaving the Eagles at 3-102.
Ollie Bryant and Brayden Speechley found themselves together in the middle and set about building a partnership, producing 49 runs in tandem over a 10-over stretch, the dig coming to an end as Speechley holed out for 20 with the scoreboard reading 4-151.
It was Ollie Bryant who really bolstered the innings for the Eagles, though, lifting the tempo from there as he went beyond his half-century, eventually dismissed in the penultimate over for 73 as the Eagles reached 6-223 in what was turning out to be a brilliant performance with the bat.
A solid cameo from Tayte Hoefchen added valuable lower order runs. He finished unbeaten on 18, with Eastern Hill eventually posting 7-232, leaving itself in a strong position as it assumed its position in the field.
It was a hot start with the ball, as Fraser Lewis and Ben Bryant turned the screws from either end, restricting the Wallan openers to 18 runs from the first seven overs,before Bryant struck in the eighth, leaving the home side down 1-19.
But the next 16 overs saw the contest begin to slip out of the Eagles’ grasp, as the Magpies fought back with an impressive 98-run partnership to dig themselves out of a hole, before assuming control of the contest.
After his heroics with the bat, it took another moment from Ollie Bryant to crack the contest open again for Eastern Hill, finding the breakthrough with the final ball of the 24th over. But the home side was still looking comfortable at 1-17 and with more than 20 overs still left in the game.
Daniel O’Sullivan consolidated the breakthrough in the following over, snaring his first of the afternoon as Wallan slumped to 3-120, and when he found his second to leave the Magpies down 4-140 in the 31st over, the Eagles could sense an opening.
Swinging the game squarely back in Eastern Hill’s favour, O’Sullivan killed off any momentum Wallan was enjoying with his third scalp shortly after, capping a memorable spell to reduce the home side to 5-148 and put the Eagles in the box seat once more.
Ben Bryant capitalised, too, snaring his second to cut the Magpies further at 6-158 in the 37th over, before being involved in a run-out nine balls later as Wallan crumbled to 7-158, before claiming his third, and the eighth of the innings, with the home side in dire trouble at 8-179 and needing 54 runs off four overs to win.
The Eagles finished off a complete performance in style, keeping the Magpies to a total of 8-202 from the 45 overs to claim their first victory in the McIntyre Cup firsts competition, moving to third spot on the ladder in the process.
However, a big challenge awaits the Eagles this weekend, with their round four clash coming against last season’s one-day and two-day premier Gisborne, which they will host at Kings Park from 12.30pm on Saturday.
