THE Fossils won their annual match against touring side Eden Park by three wickets.

The visitors batted first, but Cliff Rawlings removed opener Alan Wright in his first over

After eight overs, Park were 18-1 with Ian Bell only giving 12 runs away in seven overs bowling his in-duckers.

Opener Dave Purl (50), Jon Botten (24) and Steve Collins (69) all pushed the scoring-rate up with good running between the wickets. Top-scorer Collins hit nine fours in his excellent knock.

Gerald Wadley and Tony Williams both took two wickets for the Fossils as Eden Park closed on 185-6.

Barry Briscoe (14) and Bob Shaw (1) opened the Fossils reply, but only put on eight before the latter was bowled by Liam Peters.

Bowler Tony Williams then became a batsman as he cracked the ball for 11 fours and a six in his great innings.

Kevin Gilbert's fine form continued as he helped Williams put on 89 runs, with his share being 54.

Wickets then fell as the overs started to run out. Rawlings smacked a quick 19 before Derek Ebbage and Mike Gardner scampered the last few runs needed for victory with just one over of the game left, to give the Fossils a threewicket win.