By Lachlan Onions
EAST GAMBIER 5/177 d SOUTH GAMBIER 10/109
EAST Gambier claimed a dominant victory over South Gambier in Round 1 of the Hoggies Wines Barber Shield off the back of a strong performance with the bat from Dion Stratford, who scored an unbeaten century in the second innings.
The Demons batted first at Alan Scott Park after the Bulldogs won the toss and elected to bowl, a decision which quickly paid dividends.
It did not take long for star bowler, Liam Turley to continue his impressive form he showed last year after he dismissed Robbie Drenthen for just nine runs in the fifth over of the game.
After the early wicket, Daniel Loupos and Adam Kuhl looked to stabilise the inning but Marc Roberts kept momentum on the hosts’ side.
After the Demons made their way to 1/28, Roberts took two wickets in two balls to end his over on a hat-trick.
Loupos was caught off the bowling of Roberts, which brought David Somerfield to the crease.
However, Somerfield was caught by Stratford first ball from Roberts and was forced to head back to the pavilion for a golden duck.
Kuhl added just two more runs to his side’s cause before he was bowled by Connor Little for 14 off 37 balls.
At 4/30, South Gambier was in trouble and the very next over, Emerson Marks dismissed Jed Sims for two runs, which left Ethan Sims and Stephen Easterbrook at the crease.
The pair put up a fight but the strength of the Bulldog’s bowling ultimately proved too much.
Wickets continued to tumble at regular intervals and Alex Hentschke soon found himself amongst the wickets as helped clean up the tail end and the Demons were bowled out 109 in the final over of the innings.
Loupos was the top-scorer for South Gambier with 19 runs, while Turley, Hentschke and Roberts all took three wickets, with the best figures going to Hentschke, with 3/21 off 7.3 overs.
It was an impressive team performance from the Bulldogs with the ball, as all five bowlers took at least one wicket.
On paper, 109 would have seemed a relatively comfortable total to chase down in 40 overs but conditions were difficult for batting as East Gambier soon discovered when it went out to bat for the second innings.
In just the third over, the hosts were 1/1 after Ben Robinson was adjudged LBW off the bowling of Camron Jorgensen.
Things went from bad to worse for the Bulldogs when James Sullivan was caught by David Somerfield off the bowling of Jakob Opie to leave his side at 2/9.
With both openers dismissed without scoring a run, the pressure was on Stratford when he walked out to the middle.
However, he and Marks stemmed the flow of wickets and built a healthy partnership before Marks was caught off of Drenthen’s bowling for 17 runs.
Little made his way to the crease but was unable to have the same impact on the game Stratford had and was bowled by Drenthen for nine runs.
Hentchske was the next to take guard for the Bulldogs and scored a solid 28 runs of 42 deliveries which helped Stratford reach his ton.
Stratford quite rightly stole the show at the other end of the pitch, with his 107 runs coming off just 101 deliveries and brought his century up with a boundary in the penultimate over.
His ton included nine 4’s and seven 6’s in a dominant performance all-round, which helped guide his side to a 68-run win.
Drenthen recorded the best bowling figures for the away side with 2/30 off eight overs.
