But the result wasn’t without some solid performances, with Eastern Hill bowling a full 45 overs before the rain hit at Eynesbury Recreation Reserve.
Ben Bryant continued his brilliant start to the season with another three-wicket haul, snaring team-best figures of 3-18 from nine overs, including two maidens, while Oscar Newell snared multiple wickets, finishing with figures of 2-29 from seven overs as the Eagles restricted Eynesbury to 8-138 from 45 overs.
With rain imminent as Matthew Collard and Billy Cox strode out to get Eastern Hill’s chase under way, the two batsmen opted for wildly different approaches, as Collard belted 11 off 13 deliveries before being dismissed, while Cox ended unbeaten on one run from 19 deliveries as the game was called off.
While having to split the points against a winless Eynesbury ordinarily would have hurt Eastern Hill’s pursuit of top spot, no result was reached in any of the other three contests across the competition either, effectively neutralising the round.
Back at Kings Park, the Eastern Hill seconds escaped with a draw in their rain-shortened clash with Eynesbury, batting out the final two overs of the contest with just one wicket in hand to split the points.
After Ben Brown (2-19) and Riley Graham (2-20) each took two wickets to help restrict Eynesbury to 5-165, with Brown also playing a hand in a run-out, the weather meant the Eagles had only 35 overs to either chase victory or bat out a draw.
While a quickfire 31 from Eric Loweke at the top of the order gave the Eagles the hot start they were after, a loss of six wickets for just 21 runs through the middle order saw Eastern Hill slump to 7-63, leaving the Eagles desperately defending in hope of a draw.
Richard Grant was resolute, seeing off 25 deliveries before he was removed for seven, leaving the Eagles in trouble at 8-80 with seven overs remaining. When Graham, who had been steadfast with 28 off 49, was removed with eight balls to play to reduce the home side to 9-95, it looked as though the Eagles would fall devastatingly short of a brilliant draw.
But Brown and Oliver Fulton were outstanding in the face of immense pressure, with Fulton diligently keeping out the two deliveries he faced and Brown blocking the final over of the contest to remain unbeaten on one from 24 balls, much to the delight of their teammates.
In club grade, the Eagles fell agonisingly short of victory, going down by one wicket to Hanging Rock at Kings Park.
Batting first, an unbeaten 34 from Timothy Hanson helped the Eagles to a total of 122, and while the visitors were cruising towards the win at 0-46, wickets to Matthew Lowe (1-13), Oscar Loweke (2-15), and Lachlan Donnelly (1-29) kept the home side in it.
A four-wicket burst to Will Schaeffer-Steele (4-35) blew the game wide open, tearing through the Hanging Rock middle order to leave the visitors down 7-110. While a further wicket to Loweke followed by a run-out saw Hanging Rock teeter at 9-116, the visitors did just enough to hang on and secure the 123 runs needed for victory.
