AN average total of 188 runs was enough to give Penola victory when it hosted East Gambier in Round 9 of Barber Shield cricket on Saturday.
The Eagles set the target at McCorquindale Park on day one of play and needed to work hard with the ball to ensure the Bulldogs did not achieve an upset victory.
That was how the day would pan out and when the Bulldogs had their backs to the wall late in the innings, Penola struck hard, with four wickets for no runs to ram home the advantage.
It all began with Dave Somerfield claiming the wicket of Nathan Gore for three, with just six runs on the board.
Emerson Marks then joined Darren Whitehorn at the crease and the pair looked to settle, but the joy was short-lived, with Brad Maney claiming his first wicket of the day, sending Marks back to the sidelines for just four runs.
Five runs later Whitehorn became Maney’s second scalp and the Bulldogs were in trouble at 3/24.
Dion Stratford was looking comfortable at the crease, but after contributing 24 to the total, became a victim of Jase Bateman.
With no further score added, Hentshke fell to Maney and suddenly the scoreline read 5/44.
Harrison Karsten, Peter Kerr and Simon Golebiowski offered some resistance, with 19, 13 and 20 runs respectively, but with the total on 77 it all went pear shaped.
Karsten was first to go, caught off a Mullan delivery, while Connor Little also fell to Mullan for no runs.
Then Evans stepped up and claimed the wickets of Kerr and Luke Allen and the Bulldogs were reeling at 9/77.
Golebiowski survived the carnage, but it was too big a task, with the final wicket of Thomas Miles going to Evans and the Bulldogs were done for 101 runs.
Maney and Evans managed three wickets each, with the latter claiming an impressive 3/6 off eight overs.
Penola headed back in to bat, with Somerfield on fire, falling agonisingly short of a half-century, stumped by Stratford off the bowling of Little for 46.
